4. Restaurants

Gombei

3533 Homestead Rd, Santa Clara, CA, 95051
  • (408) 753-9487
  • Store is closed

Gombei Menu

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Denny’s ( 1745 El Camino Real )

Visit below restaurant in Santa Clara for healthy meals suggestion.

Denny’s ( 1745 El Camino Real )

  • Candi L.

    The food was decent but definitely not worth the money we paid! The service here is not that good. The waitress had this scowl on her face the whole time like she didn't want to be there. And when she finally took our order she disappeared after when we wanted to add something to our order. A really nice waiter stopped and asked if we needed something and added what we wanted. My moms food came first, which was odd since my grandma's and mine didn't come for at least another 10 minutes. I ordered the chicken teriyaki with deep fried shrimp. The shrimp was okay, the batter was very crispy but it seemed kind of thick for the size of the shrimp. The chicken teriyaki was decent and I would probably just get that again IF I ever came back. The sushi was not what I expected. We ordered California rolls (4 pieces for $2-3) and some dragon rolls (4 pieces for $4). The size of the sushis are normal so they aren't like those ones where they are really large that it takes a few bites to eat, but there is a lot of rice and not so much "filling" in their sushi rolls which is didn't like at all. My mom ordered their beef teriyaki with port cutlet. The pork was crispy and the taste was good but the pork was a little tough. She also got a side order of the croquette for us to share and the 2 pieces for $4.50 were not worth it at all! We can make better at home. The filling has curry powder and a lot of potato, no veggie and hardly any ground meat. The beef teriyaki was tender and had nice flavor. The best thing we ordered was probably the side order of Gyoza (4pieces for $2.50). It was very tasty and simple ingredients. I usually am not a fan of Gyoza since I make it myself at home but this is one of the best Gyoza I've tried at a restaurant. My grandma orders the udon which was tasty and the broth and noodles were very good as well. So overall the service and food wasn't good and WAY over priced. I would possibly only return for the udon and Gyoza. But since I can make that at home I don't know how likely that is going to happen. If you want Gombei, go to their Bento location off Maude in Sunnyvale-- that location is WAY better and cheaper!!

    (1)

  • Kenji Y.

    What's happening to my favorite Gombei :( Stay away from the Udon here. Just come to my place or Gombei Bento for Udon. The noodles in the udon are way too soft like it's been sitting in water for way too long. Chewy is better right? Ordered my usual Beef Teriyaki Dinner and requested "medium rare" and it was cooked very well. The beef was very stiff. Don't ask if you guys aren't going to cook the way I want it. Tea was not refilled once. Never even came around to make sure all is ok. The $1 specials that go around at the sushi bar is a nice touch, The sushi chef can be a little more friendlier like he is to other Japanese speaking customers. I over heard the chef recommending what's fresh today to a customer that's a regular. You guys can extend the friendliness to other customers too :)

    (2)

  • Kobe T.

    Love other gombei locations EXCEPT the Homestead one. Brought my family of 10 here. Unfortunately it started right when we arrived. We were told we can sit together but he tried to break us up when we were seated. Luckily we had several kids with us and could squeeze onto a long table. I was the first to order but the last to be served. I thought since I was last (by 15m)my food would be hot...guess again. The tofu was cold and the salmon was warm. Did I get an apology?? no. The waitress would ask if I got my food and it was clear that I didn't because I had no plate in front of me!!!! Hellooooo. Terrible service and customer service. Don't go

    (2)

  • Michael C.

    One of my neighbors has been asking me to join he and his wife to Gombei. When I heard its location, I questioned why they didn't just go to the closer options in Japantown, but they raved about this place. As I've gotten older, I prefer the simple stuff - give me a mixed plate of sliced fish over rice. I don't need the fancy rolls, lets go to basics. On most weeknights you can get a table or sit at the counter, which has the revolving plates, so I can finally say I've been to one of these restaurants! On weekends, be prepared for standing room only and a line out the door. The menu is pretty simple as well - some single or combination dinners, some appetizers in both cold and hot varieties. And of course, the sushi, which is organized by price, and you get 1-2 pieces. The price range goes from $2 to $4.25, which isn't too bad, and they offer nigiri or hosomaki so read which you want. I ended up with Octopus, Scallop, Salmon, Tuna, Hamachi, the eel hosomaki, and the spicy squid appetizer. All of it tasted fresh and the slices of fish more than covered the this amount of rice underneath, which is always nice to see. The fried spicy squid was excellent. My neighbors got a huge amount of sushi - AND dinner entrees. They had some california rolls, some avocado rolls (both of which were thick), some tuna rolls. And they both left with full meals. While I'm partial to a wider variety of fish, the sheer simplicity and ease of this place makes sense for the popularity.

    (3)

  • Stella C.

    One of my favorite Japanese restaurants in the South Bay. I can't believe I haven't written a full review until now. I always check their daily specials first. Today the #1 Poki Tuna and Mixed Fry caught my attention. The Poki Tuna tasted fresh and was full of flavor. The mixed fry was 2 pieces of calamari and fried shrimp. Nice crunch from the breading and cooked perfectly. Just wished I had more! You definitely have to here early for a table. It does get crowded. I've always had a good experience here so I can see why.

    (4)

  • Arthur Y.

    Not sure why I ended up here... Actually, that's a lie. We wanted to go to Orenchi across the street, but the line was too long. This is basically a japanese kaiten sushi (revolving conveyor belt) with other japanese foods. None of the wait staff are even asian, let alone japanese, and none seem to really know the menu/food. Mediocre food for the most part, but I guess relative to the price - it's what you'd expect. If I wasn't with my brother in law with his 2 young kids - we probably wouldn't have even bothered....but the kids had to eat and we had no plan C. I definitely wouldn't recommend. It's not the worst place by any means.....but not worth a visit either.

    (2)

  • Paul K.

    Sighs....I am kind of sad. The long lines, revolving sushi bar, nice decor.....all talk, but no delivery. I got the chicken terriyaki don. Yes i know that is not what you are supposed to get at a restaurant like this, but I did it. But looking at the sushi and price tag, it was not appealing. It wasn't cheap and the quality kind of makes you feel sick. Slow service, but I understand since the place is quite packed at dinner time, so I understand. But nothing amazing here. Honestly, there are other places in the area that can deliver. I feel bad for writing this review, but I want to be as truthful as I can without being mean....how is that possible when the content is not so nice?

    (2)

  • Michael W.

    I am writhing this for my wife who was eating at this location of Gombei on Homestead Rd. You will see that most of my reviews are of a positive nature. However in this case I can not be positive My wife was eating and had an emergency phone call (her father was in the hospital) and took the call. It was when she was leaving one of the Chefs was completely rude in how he spoke to my wife and insulted her personally. My wife felt that he was talking down to her because i was a woman and was making snide remarks . As a side note the restaurant was empty and no one was being disturbed by this phone call. When my wife asked to speak to a manager he refused to get the manager for her. My wife asked him if he was the manager, he said no. The manager is over there and pointed to the back. She then asked if he would get the manager and he just pointed, he's right there you go see him. When eating out you hope for good food and good service but you expect to be treated with respect. The food has been good in the past but due to this situation and the way my wife was treated we have plenty of good Sushi places to go to where we will be treated better than this.

    (1)

  • Jason H.

    Clearly improved service this visit! This time, the server knew what fresh ginger was for the cold tofu and brought it to us promptly! One order was incorrect, but was quickly rectified. Better tea service, to boot. Hmm, do we have to cross our fingers on which server we get every time we show up?

    (4)

  • Jenn W.

    Grilled mackerel was super salty and the udon was more like a huge portion of typical Asian noodles. But other than that, no complaints. I tried my cousin's teriyaki beef and it was super tasty, I like that they ask how you want your meat cooked so it's a bit more to your liking. Portion sizes are great, like I said, and a lot of things come with a number of sides which was nice. Reasonably priced. I probably won't come back but will likely try Misoya next door because it was POPPIN' all night!

    (3)

  • Husky D.

    Almost is good as the San Jose Gombei. One notch better than Menlo Park Gombei.

    (4)

  • kaela h.

    what? i never reviewed this restaurant? we frequent here at least 2-3 times a month! for the quality of japanese food you get here, the price can't be beat! fish has always been fresh (i have sensitive nose so i can tell when it's _bad_). they're not tiny, either. food's plated well - in fact, it's beautiful. their combos are seriously the bomb! i always go for one of these. and i didn't mention this but the service is fast and friendly. i haven't been disappointed with their sushi boats. they've successfully tempted me into picking them out whenever i sat at the bar. when i used to eat more gluten in the past, i ordered their udon a lot. i remember it being really tasty. they're not the typical noodles - these are a little thinner but still really good (not going to reminisce too much since it's disappointing to miss out on these soup noodles). the curry portion is huge! the only thing i would add would be i would like to see more ingredients in their curry, but i think it's probably more traditional to eat more curry vs. eating more ingredients in the curry. one more plus - where in the world do they get their oranges? they're always fresh, juicy, and sweet. i don't get it. it does get crowded on weekends so prepare to wait.

    (5)

  • Michael W.

    Food was plentiful. The salmon dinner came with two big pieces. Very reason for the amount of food that you get. Servers were friendly and attentive.

    (4)

  • Kevin L.

    Grew up eating Gombei in downtown San Jose, way before they started opening up other locations. I know my Japanese food and this Gombei location cannot even be considered "good" in the Bay Area. Yes, they have sushi boats, but other than that, this place doesn't feel very Japanese-owned. For dinner, I usually try to avoid typical bento box items like teriyaki, tonkatsu, etc. So I ended up getting a Mix Sashimi, basically a platter of Maguro, Sake, Hamachi, etc. Presentation was ok, but I'd expect more when paying ~$20 for an individual entree. There's about 2-3 pieces for each type of seafood, sliced pretty thin, and not exactly fresh. Compared to ( goo.gl/8nXO1 ) which I'd rank a 10/10 in freshness/quality/price, this ranks a 4.5/10. Service is reasonable, considering how busy it is during dinner. -- PHOTO: yelp.com/biz_photos/gomb…

    (2)

  • Sabrina B.

    Tried this place out with some coworkers for lunch. We sat at the counter where they had a conveyer belt of sushi. It was fun to look at all of the sushi, but like most places with conveyer belt sushi, it wasn't as fresh and the fish was warm. They had typical sushi such as tuna and salmon, but also interesting combinations of sushi with tofu instead of rice and inarizushi with a variety of fillings. I ordered the tempura udon. It was edible, but the noodles were flat and overcooked. I prefer thicker udon noodles with a firm bite. The broth was a bit light and flavorless. The tempura was soggy; I prefer a drier tempura batter with more crunch. Overall, it was fun to look at sushi on a conveyer belt, but the food is mediocre and definitely not authentic.

    (2)

  • Ayami O.

    I am very disappointed.... I was expecting this Gombei to be same as the one in S.J. Japantown and in Menlo Park. It is totally different, food is terrible, service is slow. I will not go back here again...

    (1)

  • Denise L.

    My experience totally changed from the last time I went. Not coming back here EVER. My family likes to dine early, and we got here right when it opened, at 5 PM on Saturday. There were only a handful of other people, and we opted to sit at a table, rather than the sushi bar. I was freezing as we were sitting near the vents, I should've asked to move, but didn't even think of it. My dad ordered one of their special daily combos, which priced at $10.50, thought that was a really good deal. Ginger squid (which he deemed way too sweet) which came with sprouts, onions, and some other veggies in a sweet ginger sauce and a side of tonkatsu. You also get a mix rice, which is seasoned veggie fried rice, soup, and salad. So we ordered a few rolls and nigiri, and I really liked this place because I could have a variety since each dish only has 3-4 pieces. So our agadashi tofu comes out, which is one of my favorite dishes here. Then my dad's entree comes out. 10 minutes later, the nigiri sushi comes out. I waited and waited for my rolls. Asked about it. They said they were making it. Really? You have 3-4 sushi chefs, and there were only about 6 other diners, and it takes 30 minutes to make some damn rolls? Was so annoyed, and picked at my dad's food. He's a pretty slow eater, but was way done by the time my food even came out. One of our waiters was cool, but the female waiter, who we dealt with most of the time, was rude, obnoxious, and unprofessional. While my brother and I were eating our rolls, we quickly ordered a couple more, as we knew it would take a long time. THIRTY minutes later, my dad was fuming. We ordered 4 rolls, which amounts to 10-12 pieces, and it was just absurd that they were taking forever. I tried to hold my cool, but when we called over our waitress, she just had major attitude, saying half the order was made already, and if we wanted to cancel. My dad totally wanted to, but my brother and I said we'd just wait. Overall, horrible experience. Truthfully, even when I sit at the sushi bar, I order my rolls, as I have no idea how long the other things have been sitting out, and it has never taken that long before, even when it was way packed. Service sucked, obviously the waitress did not care for her tip, and we gave her a small one, which she was lucky to even receive one, as she had no concern over the amount of time for our food to come out. The fish wasn't fresh and there was just way too much rice. I think I scooped out a cup of rice just from my rolls. NEVER coming back here!

    (1)

  • Vladimir P.

    I do not want to sound racist, but I really think that Japanese cuisine is excelling at being the world's most boring one. I think it consists of 3 different types of dishes: 1. Soups (miso or noodles) 2. Teryiaki something / anything 3. Sushi/Sashimi Being a paleo eater, soups and teryiaki stuff is gone, I hate fish, so I am left with Teryiaki without any sauce. So, how did this restaurant fare at cooking the beef? Not very good. It was the toughest piece I have had in a while, I had a strong urge to pick it up and try whether you can actually cut glass with it or use it as a door stopper. So, if they cannot cook meat and the rest is basically raw food with which you do not cultivate flavor by cooking, why would I call them a restaurant ?

    (2)

  • Bernard Y.

    I think some of the reviews may be a bit too harsh for this Gombei location. For dinner, we tried around 10 plates off the sushi conveyor belt, and most of them were around the quality that you will typically find at Marukai supermarket, so they're not horrible. The fish quality is acceptable. The main issue for me is that the rice balls were pressed together too hard, making the ball difficult to "dissolve" when you put it into your mouth. It's especially easy to test this when you bite into the inari, since its simplicity makes it difficult to mask technique deficiencies. My wife tried a piece of toro nigiri that was freshly put on the belt, and she said it tasted pretty good. We also got tea refills throughout the night and felt that the waiters were fairly attentive. That said, I think the price is a bit high for the quality of sushi you get (plates are priced at $2.60, $3.60, $4.10, $4.60, and $5.45 if I remember correctly), so I think a rating of 3 stars is fair. It's definitely a viable joint, although not one you'd expect to see huge lines going out the door anytime soon.

    (3)

  • W C.

    Prices were good, food was average, service was great. The sushi was hit or miss. All the plates I got from the chef directly was good, the ones I got from the belt was a gamble. Overall it was a decent experience, but there are many better choices out there if you're willing to look.

    (2)

  • Jessica L.

    This place is exactly what 3 stars is: A- OK. Nothing about the restaurant will make you feel disappointed, but at the same time, nothing really stands out and gets you excited. It is a normal Japanese restaurant that is popular for their combination dinners. I suggest looking at the white board near the entrance area to see what their specials are and order from there. Try: -Yakiniku Beef prepared medium rare (good flavor, good texture) -Broiled Salmon (love that charred taste, nice crunchy outside and moist inside) I actually ordered the combo dinner from the special whiteboard, and instead combined 2 items from different sets together to get the beef and salmon (yes, they can do this for some added $ if you don't like one of the items)! I was really excited about this, and it turned out good cause those were the best things! I would say Karaage Chicken is average. The chicken katsu (breast meat) and grilled hamachi were both not very flavorful and pretty dry. Sashimi here isn't the freshest, but it's passable. If you are craving some Japanese food and don't really know where to go, this would be your joint.

    (3)

  • K F.

    Love this place! Right behind my work so we call in pick up orders weekly. The sushi always tastes super fresh and everyone is super nice! Their prices are really great too! We will continue to be weekly regulars!

    (5)

  • Kevin D.

    Came here for a 1 hour lunch break with the girlfriend. She ordered the Chicken Udon and I just ate off their sushi bar. Nothing really overwhelming about this place. The sushi was pretty good considering it was on a conveyor belt. As for the udon, they didn't even use real udon noodles! How disappointing. It works well for a quick lunch during work, but probably would not come back here otherwise.

    (3)

  • Harper L.

    I wish I could give this place a 3 and a half or almost 4 stars for a few reasons. I don't think 3 stars does it justice but 4 stars isn't quite right either but I'd never want this place to shut down so 4 stars with that disclaimer is just. Basic home style and simple Japanese food. It usually hits the spot for some comfort food. Tonkatsu and teriyaki dishes are pretty good. Their miso soup is usually good and doesn't taste watered down. Sushi is just ok but I can tell it's not a horrible sushi, it's just not a high quality sushi. Go for the home style food. The udon and grilled items are good. I love the salad and dressing that come with the combo dishes and the service is usually always very good. Not a special date place but perfect for coming as a couple or dining with the whole family. Favorites are teriyaki chicken, pork tonkatsu and udon! Simple but good.

    (4)

  • Mike C.

    Wanted some thing not too fried especially without french fries being served with it so I said what about Japanese food. Me and a guest decided it was close by and I ate at the one downtown and it was ok, but not this location. The food was pretty medicore/blah to the fact that I would never ever eat here again. Prices were ok at least it wasn't expensive. I ordered the Katsu Don which to me was like how one would taste at Japanese supermarket that you take home and mircowave. The pork cutlet was soggy and not that flavorful it's suppose to be crispy and juicy. Rice was fine. My guest got the Beef and Shrimp combo and said too it was just ok. Also a order or pot stickers you could buy in store and make at home better. Miso soup tasted kinda of funny like it was some cheap stuff out of a can. You want real Japanese food don't come hear, unless you want something that resembles it on the cheap.

    (2)

  • Janet O.

    Generic. Pretty much lackluster to me. The sushi boat was almost an empty vessel. I requested my favorite Saba sashimi and I was told they don't make that. Huh?! Why not I Asked? "We just don't." So I settled on Saba sushi Instead and just avoided the rice. Not a big fan of rice. So that was a waste really. Is this an off day for them dedicated especially to me? The green tea was lukewarm. Refill was not voluntary. We had to flag down someone. They all seem to be wearing their blinders like the horses do. No peripheral vision working here. I hope they're not driving when I'm on the road next to them. Not a fan! Meh!

    (2)

  • Sin-Yaw W.

    There are several Gombeis and this is probably my favorite, the Menlo Park one is pretty good too. The foods are excellent but i am not sure about the "sushi boat" carousel" in the middle that block the chef counter.

    (4)

  • Yifen J.

    One of those places you go to when you're really hungry but don't want to wait in line. A friend and I came around 8pm- relatively full but no line, so we didn't have to wait for a table. There's a sushi boat thing, but what I found odd was that there were only desserts floating around. Burdock Root Chips: fried, not bad, but a little too oily. Oyakodon: Nothing stellar but nothing to complain about. It was nice to be asked if we wanted the egg runny or well done- I personally like it runny but I think a lot of people don't, and it's really nice that they asked. California Roll, Unagi Roll, Salmon Roll: Edible. Rice was a little pasty, but eh, the fish was edible and not served iced cold. Food comes out pretty quickly, service is standard and the sushi boat/bar guys are friendly.

    (3)

  • Rhiannon B.

    I've been to this location about 5 times. I used to go to the one in Japantown but I now live closer to this one. I wish this location had some of my favorites from the other like spicy teriyaki and curry. However, I do love their teriyaki salmon. My 2 year old loves it too. It's one of the only meals he inhales that I feel is a pretty well balanced meal. The salmon is a large enough portion that I order an extra rice and miso soup and we split the salmon. He eats ALL of it. My husband ordered beef teriyaki and asked for it rare since a lot of places like this overcook. Let me tell you, it came out RARE border line raw. He thought about sending it back but hey, that's what he asked for. And once he tried it it was actually really good. So they know what they're doing. Things aren't perfect, we ordered gyoza and it came out after our entrees. They also put the sauce over them so they were soggy. We ate them anyways and ordered more, this time asking for sauce on the side, and they were delicious. I've never tried the sushi here but it looks good. I definitely prefer Japantown but this one is usually less crowded and takes cards.

    (4)

  • Samantha K.

    Went on a busy Saturday night - lots of people waiting for tables. The host was working hard to seat people - however 4 people were given preference over couples (which we were this time) and as such our wait was over an hour. If 4 walked in, they would get seated before a two on the wait list. Luckily there were 2 chairs by the door and after about half hour was able to claim one till we were called. Recommend if you go on a busy Saturday night call up some friends and make it a a four some to get seated faster. Once seated things went well. Enjoyed my tuna sashimi and chicken teriyaki dinner. Saki was nice. Service was good From a decor perspective this is probably the nicest of the Gombei locations. From a customer service perspective Gombei San Jose ranks higher. From a food perspective both are about equal.

    (3)

  • J S.

    It was either here or misoya next door got lunch. Decided to come here since there wasn't a wait. They have a sushi boat that goes around. Prices were pretty reasonable, and had lunch specials on Saturday. I ordered a special they had on the white board, some grilled beef with tofu cake/veg with miso soup, salad, and rice. Also got the cucumber and tuna roll as an appetizer. Everything tasted great and very filling! Food came out quickly. Reminded me of Americanized Japanese food, which is fine by me for a quick no muss or fuss type of lunch.

    (3)

  • Rena W.

    The fish was super fresh, the avocado was fresh, and the sweet egg was by far the best I've ever had. We sat at the sushi boat counter, and everything we tried was fresh and delicious. Even though they were really busy, the waitress still managed to refill our drinks, and the sushi cooks managed to fill special requests. Very awesome. My new favorite sushi place.

    (5)

  • Ellin C.

    I used to not be a fan of this Gombei location, but last night we had a pretty good experience here. The service was attentive, and we got a Kitsune Udon which was inari skins in udon. It was a little too sweet for a udon but otherwise the noodle and soup tasted good. We also asked them to specially make a caterpillar roll which they did. The unagi roll was good as well as california roll.

    (4)

  • M. L.

    I'm really sad about how disappointing this last trip was. In the past, Gombei has been my family's go-to restaurant for the last few years. We went tonight for my grandpa's birthday and expected a pleasant experience as usual. It seemed fine at first, however, it already was irritating that our edamame orders took so long to come out. I let this one go, as I know dinner time can be busier. We all eventually got our orders, and then we noticed the more concerning problems. First, my uncle had a long hair buried in his salad. Then, my grandpa found a live bug swimming in his salad. Although it was at least good that both my uncle and grandpa's salads were replaced with new salads, when we brought these concerns up to the staff, all we got were "sorry, but oh well, what are you going to do"-kind of responses. The guy actually told my grandpa, "Well, we can't help the bugs." What kind of a response is that? What if we got sick from that? Finally, to top things off, when one of the staff came to bus our tables, he asked my little sister, "Did you guys pay yet?" It just came off as a little rude; it would have been more appropriate to ask something like, "Did you get your check yet?" in a kinder tone. For me, I could have been a little more forgiving had the staff been more receptive and at least offered some kind of serious apology and a discount or something because of the disgusting hair and bug in our food especially. I was a little more forgiving about not having our tea refilled or even not being offered water because it was a busier time. I still enjoyed my sashimi dinner and think that I might be able to give this place another chance in the future, since it has been good in the past. However, I really don't ever want to see this kind of unreceptive response where the staff does not take responsibility and brushes customers' concerns off - things like these are health related concerns that could threaten public health and security if not taken care of. Thank you.

    (1)

  • Elizabeth H.

    Came here for a lunch on a Tuesday with a friend. She ordered a deep fried shrimp plate, while I ordered a curry with chicken cutlet. We were seated at the bar, and the waitress was friendly, but had a hard time understanding our orders for some reason. Both of our dishes were pretty good - the curry was HUGE, even I couldn't finish it, and I eat a lot. But the revolving sushi didn`t look very appetizing, especially because some of them seemed to have been on the belt for awhile, because you could see the condensation form on the plastic covers. I tried one, and it was warm, but I feel like even if it had been more fresh, I wouldn`t have been a huge fan. Towards the end of our lunch, my friend placed a to-go order to take home, but it took a really long time to find someone to take that order. And then they never came to tell us it was ready or give it to us, we had to wait another 30 minutes and then flag someone down, before they told us it was done. They just lack good communication.

    (3)

  • Sean H.

    First time here! The food all tasted pretty good, everything did! Sushi was quite fresh, and good. Teriyaki was good, and came out good. Prices and service are both good!

    (4)

  • Kris S.

    Very pleased with pricing, food quality, freshness, service speed - however best overall would be the Guest Service!! Douglas is great! The ladies are all so kind. I give it a fantastic, "would return" review!

    (4)

  • Renata K.

    Beef teriyaki with shrimp combo during lunch had a lot of fat on it. Just lack of effort in ensuring a good experience. You can tell they grilled a piece of meat and cut it up with a pair of scissors to distribute the fat around each piece of meat. 1/4th of of my beef portion was fat that I did not eat. Sheer laziness and unacceptable. Not coming back.

    (2)

  • Emma Y.

    The service here is very interesting. They like to ask you is everything okay verbally, but they don't really fill up the tea for you. It's like 70% of the time I go there to eat, they don't fill up the tea and we left with empty tea cups. I am a huge fan of the food and miso soup. :D The sushi sometimes is not too much worth your $$, but order the daily specials, you will find surprises.

    (4)

  • Bargain S.

    This is our go to neighborhood place. We have been going here for a number of years almost always have a good experience and satisfy food. If something is not to your liking they will fix it. The tempura is always light, tasty and never greasy. They are not a noodle place, so you are not going to get the same quality as restaurant that does only noodles. The staff is always friendly and helpful. I am huge fan of the Katsu Curry give it a try.

    (5)

  • alan s.

    This place is crap. First off, they have a conveyor belt in the middle of the place with food doing laps. That should be enough of a red flag. The quality of the food is bad, it is expensive for what it is, and on top of all that I was overcharged.

    (2)

  • Christina T.

    Good Oyako don. Super cheap sushi and rolls. Opens till late! OK service.

    (4)

  • Andrea G.

    Oh No nonoNO what happend?! i love the jtown version but ive also never been to the menlo park location. i just got back after eating lunch at the santa clara gombei. when i arrived it was semi packed. oooh i was really excited to go eat here.. what the deuce?! revolving sushi boat-style sushi... wait.. Gombei isnt supposed to have lots of sushi ... something's wrong here soo.. i order the curry katsu, my boyfriend orders mixed udon and we share seaweed salad to share. my bf's udon and the seaweed salad came first... the seaweed was something i DID NOT expect.skiinny licorice-looking, black twig like seaweed.. also theres currently a tomato warning going on... why was there a tomato in this salad... didnt Gombei Santa Clara get the memo?!?!? :( i wanted the green seaweed. :( needless to say.. my curry was really bland and i only got one slab or cutlet of chicken.. even hawaiian bbq joints give u two cutlets. :( $7 my bf's mix udon was bland too.. and he was complaining of those stomach aches after his meal.. haha what happend to the curry potato croquettes??!?! ive never gotten curry from heres.. at jtown i only go with beef akinaku waahhh i aint coming back to this location. boo-erns they get one more star because they accept card :P

    (2)

  • Jasmine S.

    This place is convenient being that it's within walking distance from work. The food is tasty, but I've had better miso and sushi. I'll come here when I have a sushi craving during the work day, but there are other spots I'd rather go.

    (3)

  • Betty A.

    Love this place, love the price, love the fresh sushi dishes. My companion loves their udon noodles and teriyaki chicken. Someone mentioned the udon being Chinese noodles ... I have to disagree since I've never had that at a Chinese restaurant even in China! The udon here is just different style than the thick one. You can find them at a Japanese or Korean supermarket. I recommend their seared salmon sushi. Unagi is good too! We're regulars and go at least once a month.

    (5)

  • Robert S.

    I enjoy coming to this Gombei frequently. I am a fan of the chain, as I used to eat at the Menlo Park location frequently as well as the downtown San Jose. Do be warned, as other posters have said this location's menu is different from the other Gombei's. When I first came here I was surprised as well to find out they do not have croquettes. All in all though that didn't stop me, as their sushi is very good for the price. I'm one to order my sushi, rarely taking from the belt. I mainly stick to the fresh fish cuts as well versus rolls. I typically enjoy having my sushi with unfiltered sake, which should be served chilled, and they offer a unique decanter to solve that. Their decanter has a special opening for ice so your sake stays chilled for a long time. It's a nice touch. The main thing here though is the fish. The quality is great for a price/quality ratio. I do know of higher places in both categories to go to, but Gombei is a regular staple of mine. The staff is very nice as well. Make friends with Ken from the wait staff, and Bobby from the sushi chefs and you'll be taken care of.

    (4)

  • Bonnie K.

    Surprising disappointment We've been going to Gombei (this location) ever since it opened. After last week's dinner, we will take this Gombei off our rotation list going forward. The sashimi/nigiri sushi was not that fresh. We ordered the kyu (beef) and oyako (chicken and egg) donburi. While they did give generous portion of rice, the tastes of the donburi (rice dishes) were just OK. And yes, while the price was good (a bonburi with salad and soup at dinner cost less than $10), taste should not be compromised.

    (2)

  • Bekki L.

    This is my go-to place for quick Japanese, the sushi is alright but the Japanese curry plates are a great value. You can even get it w/ grilled chicken, which isn't an option on the menu. Yum!

    (3)

  • Mike K.

    I come here every Monday. Surprisingly very fresh quality fish for the price you pay! I usually order the tuna nigiri. 2 quality pieces for $3, what a steal! Recently tried their beef teriyaki, best beef teriyaki I have tried so far. My friend ordered it and they asked him how he wanted the meat done. I've never heard a restaurant ask how the meat should be cooked on BEEF TERIYAKI. I love their green tea, even though it's an extra dollar, I think it's worth getting (cheaper and healthier than soda).

    (4)

  • Andrew S.

    The new Gombei is finally open! It replaces the old sushi place that used to be in this location, across the corner from the Santa Clara Kaiser behemoth. This Gombei has more of a sushi focus compared to the Menlo Park and San Jose Gombeis. My secret of those Gombeis is that even though sushi and sashimi were ever only on the limited specials menu, they were some of the best and freshest fish around. Their tuna and hamachi are particularly excellent. Thanks Gombei, for making my journey to Gombei a five minute trip instead of a twenty minute one! I look forward to many more large plate specials, nimono, pumpkin tempura, awesome tea, green beans with peanut sauce, [30 other favorite gombei dishes deleted for brevity]. (The special menus will come with time, once their staff works up to it)

    (5)

  • Joey W.

    I've been to this place a couple times and they were pretty good. It was not the best japanese food I have ever had but it was decent. I had the chicken teriyaki and shrimp Tempura and a few rolls and dishes from the sushi bar. The Chicken teriyaki and shrimp Tempura came with rice, miso soup, and salad, the normal meal at the japanese place. That price was around 10 dollars so not too expensive and it tasted pretty good. However the Chicken teriyaki was a bit bland. There was enough sauce but it just didn't have enough flavor. The Tempura was crisp and tasty. I also had the dragon roll and a salmon sashimi. The Rolls are cheap like 4 dollars per but they don't give you much. But they sure are good. The salmon sashimi was fresh and also very good. This would be a solid 4 but the chicken teriyaki was a bit ehh.

    (3)

  • Elizabeth B.

    No tempura no Goza :( food is good portions are good to staff is friendly

    (3)

  • Lily L.

    one of those places where you should order the sushi from the chefs behind the sushi boat rather than taking the plates from the conveyor belt. MUCH fresher this way.

    (3)

  • Jon H.

    This is my current number 2 restaurant for Sashimi. It used to be a sushi boat place back in the day but then Gombei, the OG sushi alternative in Japantown, took it over. And with a little capital on their part, they've stepped up and didn't skimp on the sashimi. They buy WHOLE fish to slice up for their sashimi. I've had a sushi chef bring out a fresh whole fish and slice it up in front of me. And let me tell you, it's soooooooooo good. You can't go wrong. At #2, I bet you're wondering what can top this awesome place?

    (4)

  • Melissa L.

    I think the reason why this place is good is because of the value. The combination plates are actually pretty low-price compared to a lot of the japanese restaurants in my area. I ordered the chicken teriyaki and tonkatsu combination box. The chicken was good, but all dark meat with a significant amount of fat. The tonkatsu was nice and crispy, but nothing super amazing. it was sitting on top of the blandly-dressed salad. i usually love japanese salad dressing but this one did not impress me a bit. overall, this place is enjoyable, and i'll be back, but nothing blew me out of the water.

    (3)

  • Anna H.

    I'm a regular here. Mostly for take out but a few times for dine in. Gombei is PACKED everytime I go. Expect to wait up to 1hr on a Friday or Saturday evening. The reason is because the place is so small (-1 star). They have a huge sushi boat seating area in the middle that occupies most of the restaurant and they don't have much tables surrounding it. Besides that, they are very generous in their portions. My favorites are the Agadeshi tofu & sashimi combination.

    (4)

  • Suzie C.

    Paid a visit last night to Gombei. So disappointed. Sushi menu is almost non-existent, just nigiri and maki, and maybe three rolls with no descriptions or pictures. While the decor is a big step up from the previously housed Sushi Go Round, there is very little selection at the sushi bar. The shrimp tempura was soggy, the spicy mayo sauce is horrible (ugh), the sticky rice was so sticky it was gummy, and the sushi chef seemed arrogant. Missed the friendly feeling of Sushi Go Round and the variety of sushi they had.

    (1)

  • Xian Pao T.

    Gave it a 4, because nothing beats Hanamaru in Sunnyvale. Any whom, we came here on a rainy Sunday night around 8 for a group of 8. They closed @ 9 and they let us chill there for a long time before we decided to get up and go, with no stink eye from the employees. It was also located in a Korean dominated plaza, so I was expecting some Korean influences in the food. The food there is good (Hanamaru is way better). I had an udon bowl which came out piping hot and burnt my tongue, but for the size and price it seemed like a deal ($5.75 I think?). I also had the tuna sashimi dinner, which came with 12pcs of fresh but badly sliced tuna, a fully loaded miso soup bowl (I'm talking hella green onions and tofu cubes), a small overloaded salad and rice. We also had a ton of sushi, spider/philly/california/eel/tempura shrimp/tako/etc. rolls, all of which was quite tasty. My wife had one of the curry dishes, which was good, but seemed like something my mama could've made, which doesn't seem so special. Not to say that my mom's cooking isn't special, it's just something that seems like common affair for me. I'd probably go back there, but I'd check out the one in San Jose off Jackson (better reviews), or one of the many other sushi joints around the south bay before going back to this one again.

    (4)

  • Andrew C.

    No nonsense, not flashy sushi. Simple restaurant and menu. The fish is always fresh and tasty and the staff is very friendly. Prices are extremely reasonable.

    (4)

  • Raymond P.

    Good food at a good price. The Beef Yakiniku was great. And the best thing is that they ask you how you want your beef cooked (medium-rare, rare, etc).

    (4)

  • Jeanne C.

    A coworker just brought me back lunch from here. The Salmon Teriyaki was such a HUGE serving I couldn't eat it all. The salmon was tender and not overcooked as I've had in other Japanese restaurants. The Teriyaki was excellent and not over-salty either. I particularly liked their salad dressing. Absolutely delicious! I will definitely eat there again! Next time I think I'll have to go in! EDITED 4/21/10 TO ADD: I have since been back several times and they have consistently been just as good as my first experience. They are definitely on my frequent visit list. The food is great and the price is always a great value!

    (4)

  • Apple FanBoy A.

    Gombei has 3 locations. We are regulars at the Gombei location in San Jose Japantown. Note that I gave the Gombei in San Jose 5 stars, because of the authentic Japanese food. However, Gombei in Santa Clara seems to target different clientele than the one in San Jose. The menu is different. There are no daily specials. They have a sushi bar. The food is typical of American Japanese restaurant. Nothing special.

    (2)

  • Steve F.

    This is my sure fire quick sushi fix. The more interesting sushi plates on the "Boats" go quickly, leaving only the less tasty looking options. So, don't be shy. Ask for what you want. They are happy to make it for you.

    (4)

  • Hk K.

    I always love the one in San Jose downtown. I tried Sunnyvale Gombei the first time yesterday and also LOVE it. We ordered Sashimi and Seafood tempura combo. Both are very good. Sashimi is very fresh with good portion and it comes with salad and rice. Seafood tempura is impressive too. It's crispy outside and very tender inside. Love their tempura! The price is not cheap but very reasonable. I can't wait to go back again next time. So happy to find another good restaurant!

    (4)

  • Will C.

    Fancy sushi rolls with names from western pop-culture does not reside in this eatery that offers simple and authentic Japanese cooking. What they lack in variety and showmanship, they excel in their execution of their dishes, offering flavors superior to many other restaurants in the area. Even their salad, which is often an afterthought at other places, is worth noting in its freshness and the complementary flavors in the dressing is nice. The chicken don and the beef don, both can be topped with medium cooked eggs, are quite delicious to say the least, and the tempura udon's light broth plays nicely with the subtle tastes of the fried batter of the tempura. For me, the sushi is my favorite. Although they stayed away from the hundreds of variations of rolls that seem to be a requirement of all hip and trendy sushi bars, the delicate flavors from each slice of their fish really shone through. One note about their take-out. They will tell you that they don't do any soup based items to go if asked. However, if you bring your own tupperware, they will accommodate. It is a strange feeling to be walking into the restaurant carrying my own bowl, but when my craving for their udon stirs up every now and then, that is the only way to go, strange or not.

    (4)

  • James L.

    I really like their Curry rice. One of the best and the portion is pretty big! Sushi is fresh and they do get lots of people on Thursday and Friday, so i would suggest to go early. There is a Gombei in downtown SJ, i love this place for their unique daily special; i don't order their menu, but always order from their daily special!!

    (4)

  • Sam C.

    My friend took me here since she highly recommended it. I'm always looking for a good sushi place near my house. The place I used to love... isn't very good any more. I ordered the Sashimi dinner. I asked the waiter if I could have only fish, no octopus or anything like that. He responded, "nothing chewy, right?" Yup.. nothing chewy. They happily obliged. I hate it when you go to sushi restaurant and they won't do substitutions. The dinner came with a salad and miso soup. Nothing special, just something you'd expect from any other sushi restaurant. The sashimi on the other hand, was soooo good. All the fish was super fresh. I'm definitely coming back again. I can't really give an accurate description of the service since we came here fairly late. The servers were very attentive, but it could have been since we were one of the few people left in the restaurant.

    (4)

  • Kat K.

    I've brought many of my Japanese relatives here when they were visiting, and they were all very pleased by the food. One of my favorite places to drop by when I'm craving sushi - I will miss it when I move out of my apartment.

    (5)

  • Jenny K.

    the original gombei in japantown is one of my favorite japanese restaurants ever!! =) found out that gombei opened closer to home. i was pleasantly surprised that they had more things on the menu. luv luv luv'd the hamachi kama. it's one of my favorite japanese dishes. if you've never tried it...you are missing out...seriously!! it's the yellowtail's chin...the most TENDER part of the fish...sometimes a.k.a. the collarbone. theirs came out thick and juicy!! =) for about $10.. *most places charge a lot more for a lot less* WHAT A DEAL!!! =D gombei in jtown doesn't have sushi. this one has a sushi bar. the fish was fresh and everything came out quickly. i had the chicken teriyaki and fried tofu. yummy as usual. =)

    (5)

  • jim a.

    This was my first time here but I'd heard really good things about it. I'd say it's a solid 4, if not a 4.5! The menu is somewhat limited compared to some of the other Japanese restaurants that we've frequented. However, the food that is on the menu is fresh and delicious and very reasonably priced. Too of us were completely full for around $30 (incl. tip) and we weren't even quite able to finish everything on the plate. The service was good and the staff friendly. I would definitely recommend it.

    (4)

  • Teresa T.

    I have been to this location for lunch many times since it's close to my work. The food, service are usually pretty good until this Monday. I ordered a Mix sashimi lunch as usual. The portion on the sashimi was reduced 50% compare to before. I was not happy. Then, the next day, I went back per a friend's request. I ordered the Beef Yakiniku instead but she ordered the Mix sashimi lunch. The portion on the sashimi went back to normal (or more) for her. The inconsistency on the food was a surprise. I will probably give it a try again but will definitely complain to store manager if this happens again.

    (2)

  • Alex V.

    Good and affordable Japanese restaurant for the price. A little fast foodish but good fresh food! For the vegetarians, there are plenty of choices.

    (4)

  • Leo C.

    Due to hype from friends based on other locations, I was expecting a lot when I came here. Overall, the first time it was pretty good - however, the AC was messed up or something, so it was extremely hot. Food was excellent, even though I only had the combo meal with sashimi. The sashimi was relatively fresh, but somehow took quite a while to prepare (my friends were almost done eating). The second time I was here, we tried some of the other sushi - fatty tuna, yellowtail, etc- overall, satisfactory. However, the service was a lot worse - seemed very unprofessional and rushed. They may need some more training on customer service and how to make the restaurant seem more professional. Probably go here when I have a local sushi craving, but I probably wouldn't treat a date here as a romantic setting. I will need to try the other locations to see if they're better.

    (3)

  • Scott L.

    It's a cold IKEA fish of a place. Apologies for the long review, but I'm hoping they fix these issues. The J-town store's always been the best. The blank canvas that is this store just needs a lot of fine tuning. It's probably my having to accept the vending store looking sushi containers by the robot sushi chefs that's holding me back. You see it's not you Gombei, it's me! hahaha --------------------------------------------------­------------- Good news: a lot of sushi for very little $$. Still barely deserves three stars - last time they only got the third star as a hopeful gesture. Should have been 2 - 2 1/2 stars. A pretty decent space with an interesting wooden ceiling and wall treatment, but with NO personality of vibe whatsoever. We just came from Kaiser and this was three steps up from the old Kaiser interior but not as nice as the new Kaiser interior. Between having a "missed opportunity" design, lack of vibe, NO specials, IKEA sushi at best, having trouble cooking entrees correctly and Sushi chefs that don't interact with the customers (exception is Bobby after we talked with him - the others wouldn't interact) it's really hard to warm up to this cold fish. It's put together, but isn't solidly great nor pleasantly memorable. They're getting better, but still having issues... had to send back the beef they killed. They were gracious about it. Part of the issues are the design. The "walled off" feel from the Sushi chefs, who in general don't interact with the clients. We talked with Bobby, but that was it... they seem nice.. but too shy? Suggestion: Make 'em interact! Sushi is a bit IKEA-like... it's put together all right, but it's just not the caliber of Yuki Sushi, Sushi Club or not even in the same universe as Hoshi's. Suggestion: Completely rethink the Sushi offerings --- add specials!!! The layout is just plain weird at the sushibar and a lot of wasted space on the opposite walls. The front of the bar as you come in the door has the cabinet way the hell too high. Just frickin weird! I won't sit there. Suggestion: Add 2-4 tables for two people on East Wall... move rear side board a bit to allow 2 tables for two on the East Wall. Do something to help the sushi bar. No Specials!!! Suggestion: Doh! Add em! (Sushi and cooked food) Food, was OK .... but nothing tastes quite spot on like J-town, from the salad to the miso to the agedashi tofu to the entrees, everything is about 10% off is the best I can say. Suggestion: Get someone from J-town store to analyze what's up. Service is getting much better - thank goodness! Suggestion: Get on of the famous J-town brothers that run J-town Gombei like a machine to train 'em. Bottom Line: They're trying to offer Gombei - not Kubota - prices and they're having teething issues. Here's hoping they can fix this place. And that it becomes as busy as the J-town location!

    (3)

  • Mae L.

    This was close by to where I work and followed my co-workers here one day. My co-worker told me to get the chicken karage.The chicken karage looked like slices of fried chicken. It wasn't breaded like the katsu meal I usually eat. It was good, I liked it. We tried to come here recently at around 12:15 for lunch and it was super packed!!! weak!!! Next time, we're going to have to leave earlier to get here for lunch!

    (4)

  • Steve S.

    Took the family here for dinner last night. It is a slightly different format from the other Gombei restaurants with a rotating sushi bar and a few tables and booths. The quality and the portions were similar to the ones in the SJ J-town store. Overall the food was good and comparable to the other stores. We sat at a booth but I plan to come back to try the sushi bar. The place was full with a steady turnover of diners at 6pm on a Saturday. The only negative thing is that they seemed to be a bit short staffed and so it took a bit longer to place our order and get our food.

    (4)

  • Tara R.

    My family (kids, husband, and I) found this restaurant when our nearby 1st choice was too busy. There was a bit of a wait but the food was tasy and the prices were reasonable. Part of our dinner was delayed due to a shortage of burners in the kitchen but the nice staff gave us complimentary sushi & apologized. We will be back if we are in the area again.

    (5)

  • Jennie Y.

    Wish i could give this 2.5 stars, instead of just 2. I didn't like the sushi much the first time I went to Gombei, though I thought I remembered having a fairly decent Don there. Still, I didn't really plan on coming back, unless it was for a good reason. Tonight's reason was my friend, who loved the Gombei that is further north of here. We sat at the sushi bar. I ordered the plain Udon, my friend ordered the Curry Katsu Don. We picked the following sushi plates from the conveyor belt: Unagi Roll, Salmon Nigiri (2), Tempura Nigiri, Hamachi Nigiri. To cut to the chase, my second experience didn't change my original impression. The sushi that we had was ordinary, nothing special. The slices were really thin and rather bland. The sushi rice has a funny taste/smell that I'm not sure is intentional. (Maybe that has something to do with the leaf that is between the sushi and the rice? I'll come back to this in a second.) The plain Udon had literally nothing in it but noodles. The noodles were soggy. The soup spoon smelled like bleach. The clincher for this review is when I decided to take off the leaf that was in my Salmon Nigiri. (This was my second plate of it, and I had it only because I was still hungry and I LOVE salmon sashimi.) Lifting the leaf revealed... tun tun tun... an eyelash, stuck at the top, just a few inches from a pea sized bit of wasabi. Ugh. Everything else in the restaurant seemed so clean. The conveyor belt, the plastic covers over the plates on the belt, the menus, the tables... but I had to take a second look at the people that worked there. There were only two guys making the sushi, and neither looked particularly cleaner than the average male. How often does a guy wash his eyelashes? I think it was good of me to give Gombei a second chance. But it would be too much to ask to give it a third.

    (2)

  • Sheree B.

    My bf swears by this place, he absolutely loves it! I usually have him bring home some chicken teriyaki for me cause I don't eat sushi. This time I went with him to dine in and I thought it was good. We sat at the sushi boat and had quick service. He got me to try a California roll (the least scary for a newbie) and it was really good. He goes once every couple weeks and I think I will start going with him and try new things.

    (4)

  • Katy K.

    I came here for lunch and the food was great. The only thing is that there was a wait, so I wouldn't come here during the busy times if I'm super hungry. I ordered their sushi, my uncle had their chicken and fried shrimp, and my cousin got the chirashi. We all enjoyed our meals. The fish was fresh and the proportion of rice to fish was perfect. The rice was very good too, which is usually a huge reason why I like or dislike a sushi place.

    (5)

  • La L.

    After months of waiting for the new restaurant to open, we had dinner at Gombei last night. Gombei took over Sushi-Go-Round and is now located between two Super Kyo-Po markets (grocery on one side, housewares on the other). We went around 5 pm. Most of the tables were taken; the bar was completely empty. At this point I would say that Gombei is not good for large groups, unless you don't mind sitting at the sushi bar. I'm not an expert on Gombei--I've only been to the San Jose and Menlo Park locations once or twice. Some of the dishes we ordered were pretty good; others were only so-so. The hamachi teri and pork cutlet (tonkatsu) combo was better than expected. I was hoping to pack a piece of the hamachi for lunch the next day but the husband wolfed it down... even after I told him I was going to save the hamachi for lunch. We also had plain udon, which had a really tasty broth--not watery or thin at all. For sushi, we ordered hamachi, toro, unagi and amaebi. The hamachi was good. The rest were so-so. The amaebi heads were crisp but a little too tough. (Sushi Club in Sunnyvale is my favorite place for amaebi heads.) The service was good. The servers brought extra bowls, chopsticks and oranges for my daughter when we asked. Wish they had a kids menu though!

    (3)

  • Gabriela H.

    I have been here way too many times...and I love it. The staff is a little slow on the water service, but overall...I love the people there. I have simple pleasures like the spicy tuna, but the chefs do some fancy deliciousness all the time. I just wish they worked on their water service...other than that.... yumm

    (4)

  • Jerry C.

    Not the best sushi in the world. That's basically all I ate as the waiter forgot to write down my order. I guess it happens. But none of their food makes me want to come back.

    (2)

  • Josh C.

    if you want good sushi at a reasonable price, then gombei is the restaurant to come to. unfortunately they recently raised their prices, but it's still not bad compared to other places. gombei serves the typical japanese nigiri such as salmon, hamachi, and shiro maguro. you won't find the specialty rolls that korean-owned sushi restaurants are known for, but you will get fresh cuts of raw fish. their cooked dishes are also pretty good, similar to the offerings at their other gombei restaurants in downtown san jose and menlo park. i always order their curry dishes during lunchtime and the agedashi tofu appetizer. they don't take reservations, but you can call ahead of time to put your name on the waiting list. the restaurant is not that big, so it can fill up quickly, especially during the weekend dinner hours.

    (4)

  • Channing C.

    Their service isn't quick by any standard, but their sashimi is the best in the area. I default to this place when I need my sashimi. Prices are fair for the quality of food.

    (4)

  • Cindy A.

    It was okay. I liked this location better when it was Sushi-Go-Round. But the prices were still low, we were seated at the sushi bar right away, and that's good. But nothing I had really stands out in my mind as being fantastic. The service was good. This is a good place to go if you just want a quick bite of sushi.

    (3)

  • Barb B.

    I hate comparisons like "why can't you be more like your sister!" or "your sister was so much better behaved that you." Well, not that I have issues or anything like that BUT I GOTTA do it.....Why can't this location be more like her older sister location in SJ's Japantown??!! Maybe its the Bay Meadows sized oval sushi track in the middle of the restaurant? Maybe because its smack in the middle of as ugly Asian-esque mall with the risque Asian girl-on-girl videos for rent in front of the large Korean grocery store next door? Maybe it was the rude, step in front of you as you are waiting in the front area customers that frequent this place (I know that's not the restaurant's fault but, this has happened twice at this location---just the clientele who are coming here)? I think the taste of the food is better in the Japantown location. Can't complain about portion---gut busting. Service was good too. They do have a lot more sushi available here than in Japantown but, I think I will take the extra ten minutes to get downtown and go back to the Jackson Street location. At least there I haven't yet had to contend with neighboring customers who have come in after you who then wave frantically at the waitress to get served first and then let their bratty kid listen to a make-up application program on their little pink Hello Kitty electronic toy with the volume on high and never talk to the kid once during their meal. WtF. Sorry, I'm ranting again with my issues.

    (2)

  • Adam E.

    My favorite sushi place! It's fast, great sushi, at a good price!

    (5)

  • Julie G.

    Not really a great place to come for great sushi/sashimi but has good (and huge) dinner plates at reasonable prices. i've been here several times and have sat at both the sushi boat bar and the tables. i would recommend the tables as the sushi at the sushi bar is sometimes not that fresh (and after floating around the table so many times), can be warm and a little mediocre - especially on a weekday when there isn't as much turnover. On the bright side, the dinner plates are a great deal and i always have leftovers. i've had salmon, tonkatsu, and the oyako don, all of which have been very solid. service is always fast and friendly once you sit down but beware on weekends - it can take awhile to get seated.

    (3)

  • Kelly W.

    As soon as I sat down, a delicious looking philadelphia roll was passing by and I grabbed it. (Whatever! Judge all you want. It is really delicious and my guilty pleasure!) :) Before the beer and sake arrived, another wonderful roll passed by me, I did not know what it was, I just knew I had to eat it. I was glad I did. And so it went. Yummy!

    (4)

  • Kevin K.

    I am happy to say that I enjoyed this place. It was not the best Japanese food I've ever had, but it is definitely good. I ordered the spicy tuna roll and salmon and thought that both of those were fresh and delicious. The food came quick and the service was good. The waiter messed up on my bill, but had no problem fixing it :). The prices are also really reasonable. For the two of us, we spent about $25 for dinner. That is extremely reasonable for a Japanese dinner! I will be back.

    (4)

  • Donna Y.

    Came back for dinner last night. Yes! I am still on the sushi craving kick. I end up eating at the sushi bar and at dinner there is much more selection than lunch. The food was just as good as lunch but I think the lunch menu is a better deal than dinner. I will be back again!

    (4)

  • Chris A.

    Ok. I'm not gonna hate on this place too bad. I think I've just become accustomed to the Gombei in J-town. Overall prices here are good. The food is just ok. If you're looking for your standardchicken or steak teriyaki, then this place isn't bad. The whole idea of the sushi boat thing just messed it up. Gombei is supposed to more like a japanese diner. But the whole fancy sushi thing ruins it. Not to mention, the sushi isn't freaking amazing. So for this, I give this place a rating of MEH! Go to Japantown if you can. Otherwise, this will do. Don't go taking a first date here though. You won't be gettin any action, my friends!

    (2)

  • Sarah L.

    I had the California Roll and Salmon Teriyaki, served with soup and salad Pros: The California Roll was fresh and not too sticky. The salmon was perfectly cooked Cons: The salad was only average and the soup had too many onions. Also, they don't accept reservations While my first experience here was horrible, resulting in significant GI upset, I decided to return. And was not disappointed! Generous portions at a very reasonable price

    (3)

  • Po L.

    Great place for lunch. I have their fry chicken meal and it taste so good.

    (4)

  • patricia n.

    i visited Gombei for lunch the other day. its my 2nd visit here and i'm still pleased with they service. (well, sorta) 1. lunch is packed! its a small restaurant. with few tables for big party. you need at least 1hr to spear. 2. space may be an issue.... the sushi counter is big, so sushi-lovers will be able to enjoy the sushi-boat. 2. lunch is good!! (approx $9) every time i come here, i eat fish. i've had salmon and mackerel which were both cooked well. *yum* 3. waiter service is a tad slow. but overall, they are very attentive and friendly. love the smile that runs all over the floor. 4. not recommended for big party (for the sake of others) ahahahah ok, ok. i'm being a tad selfish. but honestly, if a big party goes in, everyone else gets screwed. most of the tables are for party of 2. then there are booths. and very minimal table. so, if there's a party of +6, the tables get stolen and your doomed to resort to sushi counter if the booth is booked and you're party of 4. over-all. i'm pleased with the service and i would come back for lunch with 1person (LOL) no-one more, no one less. (assuming i have ampt time that is)

    (3)

  • Karen S.

    I love this restaurant. There has never been a time where I have left unsatisfied. The sushi tastes really fresh, and I love how they have the plastic coverings on the sushi plates that go around (sushi boat). Instead of opting for a big fancy (expensive) dinner, I just told my boyfriend to take me here for my birthday last year. OH and a cool thing they have on their menu is the deep fried tuna/calamari bento box! SOO GOOD!!!

    (5)

  • Mark B.

    Get the bento box, yum!

    (5)

  • Blake W.

    No, no no. Background: The San Jose shop is one of my favorite places for authentic teishoku lunches. I invariably order something from their daily specials and have never had a bad meal in ten years of eating there. There's a good reason for the line at lunch and often dinner. I'd give it 4, sometimes 5. The Menlo Park shop is not very good. The few times I've eaten there, I've been disappointed with the quality of their dishes. Not sure why it doesn't measure up, but I'd barely give it a 3. How is the new Santa Clara shop? Well, for one thing, the previous shop was a horrible, horrible sushi boat place that I had prayed would go-under the one and only time I ever ate there. So I think that is a half-point demerit just for bad ju-ju carry-over. Take another demerit for deciding to KEEP the boat infrastructure and serving sushi. That violates one of my cardinal rules of Japanese restaurants: If it's a sushi place, that's really all they should serve. If it's not a sushi place, then sushi should be buried deep in the menu as an after thought. Under no circumstances should sushi and, say, tempura have equal billing on the menu. I have never, ever in my life seen a place that can do both well. Take yet another demerit for hiring the @ssh0le sushi "chef" from Kubota. (The one that one that served me bad uni and then insisted on telling me I know nothing about fresh fish and refused to remove from bill when I sent it back... after we were already well in over $100 on an otherwise great meal. Yes, it was 8 years ago. God I hope you're reading this, you dick). Needless to say, we did not order the sushi, but instead opted for... what? No daily specials? Deduct another full-point. So I ordered the "mix seafood fry". My sig-other orders the salted mackerel. And we wait... The "just opened" bumbling of untrained servers is pointed. Then my dish comes. Reasonably good shrimp and squid, although the salmon was a bit off. Probably the previous days sushi throwback? SO's comes after another 5 or 10 minutes. Decent mackerel, if a bit salty. But by now the luster is lost. As much as I wanted to like this place, I'm not going back. If I lived in this hood and was desperate for take out, I might order their katsu-don or something. And they are pretty cheap ($8-10) and reasonably nice service (except for stink-eye sushi chef dick).

    (2)

  • Alex S.

    The food is pretty good. The service and ambiance pretty much suck. Once a server accidentally poured a pitcher of cold water on my mom. There were big apologies, but they did nothing for her... No offer to have her coat cleaned, take money off the bill, give us a complimentary drink or dish - nothing. Yummy food, but with no class - how perfectly unJapanese!

    (2)

  • Gabriel R.

    Bad service, mediocre food, sushi belt had no variety and same dishes remained on belt for the entire course of our dinner! The only good thing was they refilled our water quickly. To top it all off, they overcharged us. Avoid like plague. Go elsewhere!

    (1)

  • Diana C.

    My tuna sashimi was stringy. Stringy! Plus, they forgot to give it to me, so I drove home with my takeout order only to find it was not in my bag. I can get comparably-priced, and much better sashimi elsewhere.

    (2)

  • Jeff L.

    It's good, not great. We got these: 1. shrimp tempura udon 2. beef udon 3. chicken karaage 4. rainbow roll The shrimp tempura udon is a good deal. There's something not quite the same about their tempura (it's less panko crumb and more normal batter) as other places, but it was still very good (nice crunchy outside) and you get a pile of it with your udon. The beef udon doesn't look that special, but once you taste it, you'll like it. It's also very filling. The chicken karaage is solid. I loved the little dab of hot mustard they serve with it. It's light and happy. The rainbow roll is $4 for 4 pieces (2 will have tuna on the outside, 2 will have salmon). The fish was surprisingly fresher than I thought it would be. It's not top tier, but it's actually pretty good. They were all solid offerings, and the prices are typical (which means a little overpriced--$8 or $9 for a bowl of udon, $6 for chicken karaage). Not too shabby at all. I'd come back if I was in the area and wanted to grab a decent bite to eat.

    (3)

  • De M.

    The most notable thing about my recent visit here was the excellent service. Stopped in for a quick lunch with coworkers. It was really busy and I think we got the last table. We had to wait for one more person and had some sushi to start. The staff kept checking in to see if we wanted drinks, etc. We finally ordered lunch. The gals that I was with were from out of town and I started showing them how to check restaurants on Yelp -- then we noticed the time! We didn't have enough time to eat! The staff quickly arranged for our lunches to be packed . We were able to leave quickly and the domburi's were good - but a little messy!

    (4)

  • Robin H.

    I'm a big fan of Gombei in SJ Japanese town so we tried this place. Food was ok but not like the one in SJ. Different menu. This one is more like watered-down Americanized menus. I'd go eat there if I'm around the area and feel like Japanese but won't go out of my way to eat there.

    (3)

  • Hannah L.

    I think Gombei is one of the cheaper sushi restaurants I have ever been to in the bay, besides Sushi Coast and Hana Sushi. It use to be called Sushi-Go-Round, but that closed and Gombei appeared. I think they have another location downtown and I'm sure that location is as equally good. The sushi quality here is fresh and most of the sushi at the sushi boat/bar is prepared fresh. Some other sushi places you go to when you eat at the sushi boat/bar, you notice most of the sushi on the rotator were made like days ago, or at least that's what it taste like, but not Gombei. My personal favorite was the philly roll and the tempura roll. I'm sure all the sushi here tastes good though! The lunch specials and dinner specials here aren't too bad as well. Both cheap, affordable, and delicious!

    (4)

  • helen s.

    I'm impressed with this place. My sister suggested we come eat here so my family and I had a nice lunch here on a Wednesday afternoon. It gets really busy here during lunch hours so if you're on a tight schedule, you might want to try to come early or take your chances. They have a pretty good selection of lunch specials. I ordered the Sashimi special (12.95 or 11.95 I think?) and the slices were pretty big (at least compared to other places i've been to). My sister ordered the tuna teriyaki with tempura special and that was very good! Never tried tuna teriyaki but I was pretty impressed. Overall, the place is very clean (they have a sushi boat and all the items have a little lid on them) and they have a pretty good selection of items on the menu. I would definitely come back to try more stuff off their menu.

    (4)

  • Ro C.

    This is the third time I've visited this place and I'm really liking it so far. This is by far bigger than the other Gombei in SJ's Japantown. Their sashimi is always fresh and their udon's are delicious. Everything on the menu looks yummy. Their lunch specials are totally worth it and they give you lots. One good thing about this particular location is the sushi boat. Service is great. They always refill my gen-mai cha. The place is spacious and clean. It never gets cramped in here and lots of plaza parking. Looks like I'll be a regular :)

    (4)

  • omar b.

    big ole boat style delivery in the middle, which seemed to be a hit with the kids. tons of families here and some younger HS/college kids. i suppose with the demographic of this area this kind of setup works best, but not my bag. the grinds were alright, only standout was the tofu steak which was on point. we ordered a mixture of dishes and nothing was really strong or bad. prices were fair. the service was excellent, especially the bubbly host-chick and one of the chefs, bobby. will most likely go to better alternatives like minato's, hoshi or kaita.

    (3)

  • Thomas O.

    This restaurant is always packed weekdays for lunch and weekends for dinner. I usually order one of the combination dinners and never leave unsatisfied. Steak teriyaki, croquettes, fried tofu, beef udon are some of my favorites. Unagi sushi is also very tasty. Portions are generous and pricing is reasonable.

    (5)

  • Bob b.

    I used to go here once a week, it was so good. Recently, they have changed to the worse. The boats are nearly empty, the sushi chefs are mostly new, and it is now hard to get their attention. Before, it was relatively easy. Also, in a decent Japanese restaurant, I expect the staff to speak English or Japanese. Now after all the changes, the chefs and wait staff converse largely in Spanish. That is not a good thing. The food still tastes great though, so I'll come back a few more times in the hope that Gombei will catch its bearings again.

    (3)

  • Con L.

    About what you can expect at a Japanese restaurant. Everything was pretty good but nothing really stood out in my mind. Fish was fresh, food was pretty good. I'd go back

    (3)

  • Danny M.

    Conveyor belt sushi. Mmmmmm. Good. Inexpensive. Fresh.

    (4)

  • Herbert W.

    I just don't get why its just 3.5 stars. This place has incredibly fresh melt in your mouth sushi. Yes some of there other stuff is not so great (don't get the udon) but the fish is fresh and the price is pretty incredible for what you get. Don't get the rolls, don't get the teriyaki, get the salmon, yellow tail, snapper, mackeral sushis. Oh I'm really hungry now. One caveat, I believe their lunches are the BEST, dinner not so much, except on Friday and Saturday which is good too. The reason weekday dinners aren't so great it seems is because they don't carry over fish to the next day so they buy as much as they need for the day.

    (5)

  • Albert C.

    The third outpost of Gombei, located kitty corner from the new Kaiser Santa Clara. The interior is much different from the other two locaitons - with the dining area dominated by the sushi bar (w/ boats) and chefs, and tables scattered around the walls. The decor is much more austere and colder than either the Menlo Park or Japantown locations, which is a shame because the warm atmosphere is part of what I like about Gombei. Four of use sat down for a Sunday dinner and picked out agedashi tofu, mix sashimi dinner, tonkatsu dinner, plus an assortment of nigir and rolls (salmon, tuna, salmon roe, spider roll, spicy tuna roll and spicy yellowtail roll). Overall, the fish (both sashimi and nigiri) was fresh and tender, though not the best that I've had. I liked the option of the spicy hamachi (yellowtail) roll, as most places only have the spicy tuna. The spider roll was a bit of a let down, mainly because of the cuts of crab that we happened to get, though I guess 2 pieces for $3 is a pretty good deal. the tonkatsu itself was pretty good - not too fried on the outside and adequately juicy on the inside - though the salad it arrived on was a little limp. I was a little put off by the lack of ginger with the mix sashimi plate, however. Sure, it's a little thing that most people wouldn't care about, but it's also the little things that show how much care a restaurant puts into its food and image. Overall, not bad, though I much prefer the original SJ Japantown location for its feeling of home and warmth.

    (3)

  • Pratap S.

    I found the food here very good. The Sashimi plate is excellent and the fish tastes very fresh. Their soup dishes are also very good. We had to wait for a long time to get in but it was worth it.

    (4)

  • DeeJay M.

    Great restaurant. I was very satisfied with my entre. Service was good, prices reasonable. I will definitely be back!

    (4)

  • Spencer W.

    this is the only restaurant i like the teriyaki beef at, that's due to the fact that they mesquite grill the steak and the teriyaki sauce isn't to sweet.

    (4)

  • Rich T.

    We drive by this strip mall almost daily and shop at the Korean market in the mall but have never noticed this place . It wasn't till we were in Japan town last week and saw their other restaurant there did recognize the name and decided to give it a try. We were there for dinner on a Saturday night and had about a 15 wait for the table. We ordered California rolls for the kids and it did take quite a bit to get them. Service was rather good. They dd keep checking up on us to make sure everything was good and kept coming by to fill our tea cups. But when we did need something it did take a while. Asked for forks for the kids and they oly had ne. They said there were no ore clean forks? Serious! They never came back till we had to ask them again. One of the waiters was behind us cleaning a table when my wife called him and he responded with "Sup?". Food was tasty and well priced. Service though could have been better. The food was good enough for me to give them another chance.

    (3)

  • Dave H.

    Consistently good sashimi. Note that you can substitute the tuna for other fish if you order the sashimi dinner.

    (4)

  • Justin S.

    Came here for dinner, probably around 8PM or so. Fish was definitely not fresh, but still good. We were seated at the bar, and the stuff going around did not look that fresh either. I ordered the chicken katsu & salmon bento, both were good. I got some spicy yellowtail sushi and that was good as well. What irked me the most was that horrid service. Everything just took forever and there weren't that many people there either. I saw one of the waiters sitting down and just chatting with someone as I tried to get his attention to take away the bill. What's odd is that I came here because I remember having great food here. So I don't know if it was just that day or they have been on a gradual decline. I think Stacey a few reviews down said it the best: There are just simply so many more better options around.

    (2)

  • Kattz M.

    Food here is hit and miss but mostly miss. I always order bento specials written on a white board, more often than not, the main sauce of the entree is consistently the same but with different ingredients. Salad is mediocre. Dressing is bland and almost watery. Side dish is meh. Main dish can be palatable, other times, taste terrible. Service becomes lousy when it's busy and when my bento tray arrives, it's incomplete like there's no salad or miso soup is tepid, and the server neglect to refill my empty cup of green tea in most cases. One night, I decided to order from the menu. Tempura udon, ebi tempura on the side. It was the WORST udon I've ever tasted in my whole life! The broth was terribly bland and scrimped on the ingredients. Udon was very soggy. Ebi was very, very oily and there was no wax paper on the plate to absorb its oiliness. Gombei literally made tempura udon a bad recipe! Overall, their dinner specials are nothing special and unappealing. I got bored with the same sauce but with different recipes and quite careless about food presentation, more like the head chef is running out of menu ideas. Gombei is an illusion of a so-called Japanese cuisine.

    (1)

  • Kristen S.

    I've never met a Gombei I didn't like! Truth. Bigger than it appears on the outside (and nicer than it's strip mall location would suggest), the food is always fresh and delicious here. It's comforting, it's consistent, and the service is great. The sushi I've had has always been fresh and comes out in a timely manner. It can get busy so get here early if you can to add your name to the list. And if you choose to sit at the sushi bar for dinner, rest assured you'll have plenty of room on either side of you. Yay, no bumping elbows with strangers (don't you HATE when that happens?) like some other sushi bars that come to mind... Also, best Oyako Donburi ever.

    (4)

  • Guy M.

    Tired after the chuunin exams or those Anbu Black Ops missions? It's nice inside. You don't have to worry about any genjutsu. Bring your friends from the hidden leaf, and enjoy a warm meal to heal up those battle wounds of yours. Service was at par. No complaints there. They are quick and friendly. Japanese food is mostly healthy and your tongue will also be pleased. When you leave, your tummy will be happy as well. There is also a sushi bar thing going on in the middle of the restaurant, if you dig that kind of thing. Make sure to bring your friends from the village hidden in the sand and don't forget the sake! -Lvl. 21 Firebender

    (4)

  • Diana D.

    We WERE loyal customers for a few years. We probably went in once a week. We asked them if they could help my son ask his girlfriend to the winter formal- he wanted to place a small flag, on a toothpick, on a set of california roll, or order one, and pick it out of the boats for her and hand it to her, OR have a food server bring it out. They took our number, and said that they'd call the next day. The next day, NO CALL. I went over there to follow up, and the manager asked a gentleman behind the bar, he nodded no. So the part I was angry about, and shared, was that they didn't have the decency to follow up and call a LOYAL CUSTOMER. They could have said no, in a timely manner. We stopped going and now give our business to Yuki Sushi on Pruneridge. They helped my son, and were so pleased to do it. They loved being involved! This is how you support your neighbors when you own a neighborhood restaurant!

    (1)

  • Heidi M.

    This place is MEH! +1 They have a sushi boat thing circulates the sushi bar, so its quick eats +1 Nice waiter. They always checked on us and refilled the water -1 I dont know how long the sushi on the sushi boats have been floating around -1 sushi chefs weren't very helpful. I had to wave them down to get their attention -1 pricey for the quality of the food.

    (2)

  • Aly Y.

    More like a 2 1/2 stars. Not a huge fan of their sushi but family liked their cooked dishes and udon noodles. Their bento boxes came with huge portions of either chicken or pork Tonkotsu. The uni I ordered was a deep dull orange and bland, as were the rest of the raw fish I ordered. Service was friendly though, except for the unsmiling older woman who I assumed was one of the owners - she seemed to bring the bill to the customers.

    (3)

  • Michael W.

    Came here for lunch with a friend because Orenchi had a ridiculous wait. This Gombei is missing the awesome combination dinners that the Menlo park Gombei has. I got the pork cutlet and tuna sashimi combination, along with a side order of Tako nigiri, while my friend had the Chirashi dinner. The miso soup was a little bland, but the pork cutlet was pretty good. The tuna sashimi was decent, but I was hoping the octopus would be more crunchy and sweet. Overall the fish was decent. My friend's Chirashi didn't come with much fish at all. She requested tamago as part of it but they gave her mostly tamago for some reason. I tried some of the tamago and it was decent. Overall, decent but nothing special. I feel like the Menlo park Gombei has better value with their combination dinners though.

    (3)

  • Erin B.

    Great beef yakiniku and udon bowls. Sushi is delicious but cut on the thinner sound. rices and services are good overall.

    (4)

  • Becky K.

    Really, the best word to describe would be "meh." Hubs and I came here for lunch because Misoya next door had a ridiculous wait. We ordered the donburi katsu don, a Philly roll and something else (I think it was a Cali roll). I was a little skeptical looking around to see that not one Japanese person was working there. The majority were Hispanics, which is fine (who's to say who can make good sushi or not). But I wouldn't go to a Mexican restaurant that were run by Chinese people, #justsayin. First off, the food came out really quickly. That always makes me nervous. The donburi bowl came out first, and was SUPER hot, like as in microwaved and not very fresh. It was aiiiiiite, nothing to get excited over. Then the rolls came out, and they were okay. But they had way too much rice. Hubs and I ended up scraping off half of the rice and it was perfectly fine. Service was quick and efficient. Food was whatever. If this is your thing, this restaurant would be perfect for you. Me? I don't mind waiting 45 minutes for perfected food deliciousness. But that's just me.

    (3)

  • David A.

    I live right around the corner from this shop and loved popping in for a bowl of inexpensive and decent udon or a couple of beers. Then one night I went with my gf and a cockroach the size of my thumb walked from the wall onto my dinner table. Needless to say my gf was quite upset. Apologies were made by the staff, but nothing was removed from the tab. They assured us they had just had a service come and spray down the premises. Time passes and now its raining and my gf is sick and we really want some udon. We figure what the heck its been a while and maybe it was just the once. We go order a considerable ammount of food. Busy night full of customers. Low and behold. a small cockroach twiddling around my sushi plate. Unbelievable. Again apologies made, nothing was taken off our tab. I considered refusing to pay, but as my gf was sick and now looking to throw up, I simply paid my tab and left. REALLY unfortunate cause I liked that place, but apparently it's infested with cockroaches, and the staff know and expect you to pay for them on your table. TL;DR EXPECT TO PAY FOR COCKROACHES.

    (1)

  • Dianna N.

    This is a great place to go with three other people. That way you can try as many things on the menu as you can. Been here a couple of times and the food and service has always top notch.

    (5)

  • Andrea P.

    My parents seem to like to come here because the food holds up to it's standard, never seems to disappoint and you can get in and out pretty quickly. The sashimi is fresh and they have lunch and dinner combinations that are pretty well priced (less than $20) that come with miso soup, salad and rice! You can sit at the sushi bar or tables and even though the restaurant is moderate sized, during peak dinner and lunch hours there is a short wait. If you are looking for solid Japanese food (not purely sashimi but other things like teriyaki, noodles, karaage, katsu) then this is a good place and within budget. Portion size is good and good place for groups. Staff is friendly and large parking lot available! Located in the plaza with Starbucks and the Korean supermarket.

    (3)

  • Alison A.

    Reasonably priced food, really yummy.

    (3)

  • Claudia H.

    Great sushi 100% of the time. I usually order a sushi platter and its filling.

    (5)

  • Phil G.

    Inexpensive, friendly staff, good menu, real sushi conveyer belt, I really like the rainbow and spicy tuna rolls, the deep fried eggplant may have gone off the menu but they still make it when I ask! I'd probably say 3.5 stars, but hey they get 4 since this is whole numbers only...

    (4)

  • Evie H.

    Finally dropped by for the first time recently and ordered the chicken karaage lunch. It came with a bowl of rice, miso soup, salad, and the chicken. The soup was standard and the salad was so-so (didn't really like the dressing). I didn't finish either. The highlight for me was the huge pieces of chicken karaage. It wasn't as nicely crisped on the outside as Orenchi across the street but they definitely gave me a big portion which I couldn't finish. I liked to dip the chicken in the katsu sauce provided on the table and eat it with a bite of rice. Pretty good. We also got the agedashi tofu appetizer. Four pieces of larger than average tofu. Not bad! Will definitely not oppose to returning again.

    (4)

  • Alice W.

    I used to really like this place but now recently the consistency & quality of the sashimi has really gone down. The fish pieces are so paper thin that I barely tasted any fish when I got my nigiri. I saw that a lot of the chefs & waiters that I usually see have left the restaurant too. Maybe a change of ownership? I went there 2 times after the change & I don't think I will be going back any time soon. Hope the restaurant gets better.

    (2)

  • Frank C.

    Just like all the other gombei joints it's above avg. quality, good price, top service, whatever... If u in the mood for quality eats (esp. at lunch) this is it!

    (4)

  • Jennie C.

    Huge portions, great lunch prices, excellent customer service. The servers here are super friendly and super nice. Very attentive as well - they made sure we had everything we needed and made sure we were enjoying our meal. Japanese food usually is pricier, but Gombei is a great value - you seriously get your moneys worth. We came Tuesday for lunch around 1pm - no real wait and were seated pretty quickly. I ordered the tempura udon and was amazed by just how MUCH food there was. The noodles aren't the traditional udon chewy noodles, which made me a little sad, but it was still pretty good. Lots and lots of tempura - very generous on the servings. You usually don't see places give three pieces of shrimp tempura (among the rest of the tempura veggies). Boyfriend ordered salmon sashimi and teriyaki chicken - the chicken was really good! He said the sashimi was pretty fresh and they were nice enough to create the combo for us (it wasn't on the menu as an option). We also got the 4 piece agedashi tofu; this was pretty good as well but it was swimming in the dashi sauce. No complaints but still, it'd probably be more efficient for them to use less sauce :-p. 4 is actually a very small amount and so will probably skip on the tofu next time. Will probably come back in the future but will stick to lunches; it's a great deal at that time!

    (4)

  • Allison C.

    After the manager left and Bob the quality of the sushi has gone down. We use to come here pretty much every weekend, but after a couple of visits and I got poor quality uni and ikura I could not bring myself to come here. Started look for other places as my goto for sashimi. The sad part is that when I complained that the Ika was tough, they took it back and sliced it up more, to the point that it was mush. Also, they raised their prices so they aren't quite as cheap as before. This night I had the Ikura - which was right at the point where it is turning. Meaning a little tough, where it does not "pop" in your mouth and had a bitter after taste. I then asked if the Uni was good and the chef said yes, this too was not so good. It was starting to get the fish taste and it too had a bitter after taste. Sad...once again I must look elsewhere for my fix.

    (3)

  • Emily W.

    Came here for lunch on a Wednesday. First time at a sushi bar for a very long time. I just ate off the sushi bar and P ordered the teriyaki beef plate. I thought both were on the pricey side. The sushi bar did not have as many options as listed on the menu that showed the price. The fact that everything was pre-made, just made sure that nothing is fresh. I got a spicy tuna roll, a soft-shell crab one, and an inari one. Sadly, the inari one was the best. The spicy tuna was not fresh and the soft-shell crab was no longer crunchy (it was tempura fried). The beef plate was a good portion, but not good enough quality or quantity for ~$10.

    (3)

  • Jenna H.

    I have to say, Gombei is the ONLY restaurant that I've ever been too that has been consistently good with their Beef Teriyaki. They ask how you like your meat prepared, and actually prepare it how you asked (med rare/rare/etc) Their beef is consistently tender and the teriyaki isn't super salty. The sashimi isn't too bad either with fair sized slices. However their Chicken Karaage is weak, so I'd avoid that. SERVICE This place can get crowded so I like to come earlier.

    (4)

  • Catherine L.

    Good for lunch! A small wait but it gave us time to look through the menu. As we walked to our seat I checked out what other people ordered and it was beef teriyaki. What the heck right??? Imitation..but I ordered it anyways because I couldn't believe so many others had too! Man, it was darn good!! It was saucy but not overly sweet and disgusting and the beef was very tender and cooked just right. My brother got the sashimi platter and it looked good. I ate his salad and the dressing was kind of bland but in a good way. His platter came with a miso soup too which had small potato pieces in it.. I didn't really like that added surprise but the rest was okay. Would come again for the teriyaki. I feel like such a traitor ordering this but it made us talk about our childhood when we used to go to another Japanese restaurant after Chinese school where we ordered the best beef teriyaki. Sadly they closed but I'll give Gombei two thumbs up for theirs! Service is really nice too. We got free refills on the soda and since we sat at the sushi bar, we were able to see one of the chefs fillet a red snapper. This place is not cash only which is pretty surprising for an Asian place especially during lunch.

    (4)

  • Alice W.

    Below average Japanese food. The absolute worst part about this restaurant is the pungent bleach smell. I don't see other Yelp reviewers complaining about this, which is absolutely strange, because it's one of those things that you notice right upon walking in and it just bothers you throughout your meal. WHY does it smell like bleach?! Did they just smear this all over their tables and to what extent is this stuff contaminating the dishes, or worse, the food? I don't get it. It's gross. Anyway, I could barely begin to enjoy my dish because I was too busy worrying about the smell. I THINK I got udon, and the reason as to why I'm not exactly sure is that they didn't use regular udon noodles, but I'm pretty sure I ordered the udon. The noodles just came out all square and funky and certainly not udon-like. Overall, not memorable food for very memorably bad smelling restaurant. Maybe I just came on a bad night. I won't take my chances though. A restaurant should never smell like bleach at the same time they are serving patrons.

    (2)

  • Melinda M.

    Parking was easy to find at 12 noon. We were seated quickly. Food: -Great salmon sashimi - it was very fresh! -Ok chicken Karaage -Good miso soup -Ok salad -Good white rice Sushi on the bar is nicely packaged with a lid over it. Clean retaurant - no bugs flying around. I would come here again but for more salmon and other sushi items not for chicken.

    (4)

  • Randy L.

    A solid place, pleasant atmosphere, good service. The sushi conveyor belt looks like a lot of fun for kids, especially. I had the special beef kasuzuke and broiled sardine combo. This came with rice, miso soup, and salad. The beef was very tasty, though chewy. The sardine is a strongly flavored fish, so you have to like that sort of thing, which I do. I also ordered the spicy yellowtail roll, which was very good. My wife had the chicken teriyaki and tuna sashimi combo. The teriyaki was good. We've had better tuna. Our friends tried the burdock root chips, which come with mayo. They were okay. Her donburi bowl looked good, and she finished it all, even though it was a fairly generous portion. He had some kind of teriyaki and chicken katsu, I think. He didn't comment on it, but he did finish it.

    (3)

  • Lisa S.

    I came in here for some quick lunch today. I didn't really have anything specific, but I wanted a donburi. Wasn't sure which one I want so I asked the waitress. She was really kind and helpful. I went with what she recommended. Which was the Chicken Katsu donburi with a medium cooked egg. Sounded kind of weird when I heard medium cooked but when I tried the meal, it was delicious. I will definitely come back to try more of the menu. The only thing I think that needs a little bit of work on is less "sauce" because it soaked the katsu a little. Maybe because mine was takeout so it is a bit different. But I ate everything in there all the katsu, onion, egg and rice. Give Gombei a try :] I would recommend calling since the wait for takeout is around 10-15 mins.

    (4)

  • Rob J.

    my wife and I got sick here. We received a gift certificate as a gift from an Aunt... we decided to finally check this place out. I wish we didn't eat here. We were sick for about a week. Wife would know exactly what we ordered. I don't care to remember.

    (1)

  • Sunil S.

    This has been my default sushi place for a while now. Their prices are great and the quality of fish is better than the price would have you believe. There will be some times where some of the fish will be a less than fresh, but 95% of the time, I've had fresh fish here. You do have to come at the right time to get a large variety at the sushi bar, but just about everything is delicious on there. Plus the sushi chefs will make anything for you if you ask them. Their appetizers are also amazing. I usually rotate between the spicy calamari salad, beef short ribs (the most tender you will ever have), and deep fried eggplant. The staff is also very friendly and attentive. Always topping off your tea or water and making sure you have everything you need.

    (4)

  • David Y.

    Shameful, such a waste of money. This place is kaiten sushi, not what I expected. The food was far from authentic and much too expensive for the quality.

    (1)

  • Eric C.

    If you are expecting freshness and a variety. This place disappointed, in a major way. Tuna sashimi was soo bland, corn skins had more flavor to it... Teriyaki sauce used for hot plates should be labeled as light soy sauce The only pro to this visit was that they were on time with the refills on coke.

    (1)

  • rosie d.

    First time here. Gave it a shot because they catered my office party and we were impressed with the offerings. We chose to stick to sushi and we were not disappointed. The salmon and scallop were sweet and delectable. The hamachi and tuna sashimi were impressive, very generously cut, and so impeccably fresh! The service was also very good and all the staff were very attentive. We kept ordering because everything was so delicious and we were stuffed to the gills. Imagine my surprise that the bill was under $60 when I truly felt like it was easily $80 worth of fresh sushi! We are definately coming back here to sample some of the lunch specials. So happy we found you, Gombei!!

    (4)

  • Kitty T.

    Menu at this location is a bit different than the Japantown location. The quality is the same and the staff are great! There is a sushi boat and I got the tofu one which had some rice filling. I had the potato croquette with some salad and it was great! Service was quick and bathroom was clean. Try the potato croquette!!!! Good parking.

    (4)

  • Runa T.

    I've been to the Gombei's in Japantown but never been to the one here off of Lawrence. This one is much bigger and has kaiten sushi (I'm pretty sure that the one in Japantown doesn't have that but I could be wrong). That's my favorite because you sit and you get to each right away! I went with my mom, sister, & boyfriend. Me and my boyfriend shared the Teriyaki Salmon and Tonkatsu Dinner Combo. The salmon was dry and bland and the tonkatsu was a bit hard. My mom and sister shared the Teriyaki Chicken Dinner. The chicken was nice and juicy! On top of the dinners, we all ate plenty of sushi that came around. The Dragon Roll was yummy! It was a tempura roll with eel and avocado. And the rainbow roll. The sushis ranged from $1 - $4 depending on the plates. We ate until we were stuffed and the bill came out to $71 for 4 people!! I will definitely be coming here again to get a quick bite since I live near by.

    (4)

  • Kyle C.

    Went here for lunch for the first time really enjoyed the food and service. The lunch time wait was not bad at all 5 min at most. There portions for curry is massive so make sure your hungry. I'm definitely coming back

    (4)

  • Stephanie G.

    I'm not incredibly impressed with the sushi selection here. I feel like there's some "secret menu" I'm not aware of, or something. This is my neighborhood sushi joint. I've been here a few times. The waiters are cool. We had various sushi and SAKE BOMBS! :)

    (3)

  • Paula O.

    i had some lunch here with the family. We came in and were greet right away and led to our seats. We ordered food and when we asked about some items on the menu, the gentleman was very polite and gave us his opinion. I had the mixed udon (but the noodle is kinda flat so not the white round ones) and it by far is the best noodle I've had. Everyone's food came out in a decent amount of time. Our drinks were always refilled and the waiter asked us a few times if everything was okay and if we needed anything else. I would recommend this place for some japanese eats. Happy Eatings!

    (4)

  • j b.

    Our first time to a Gombei restaurant (apparently this is a chain?). I have no idea how this flop of a place has managed to make itself into more than one restaurant. Service was good with kind, attentive servers. The food was below average. Not inedible but definitely what I would call cheap, American-ized japanese food. Roll selection was extremely limited, nori was stale (hence chewy - my personal pet peeve). Tempura prawns were battered in some kind of grainy batter - not proper tempura at all. The restaurant was full of cheap chairs, table, etc. Felt like a 1950's diner style. We will not be returning. So many nicer options than this! Don't waste your time.

    (2)

  • Benjamin B.

    The positives: We were seated quickly (at the bar, but if we had wanted a table we would have had to wait a few minutes); friendly staff; food was very tasty; clean and quiet; reasonably priced. My wife ordered poki maki and the cook at the sushi bar prepared it special for her; she said it was delicious and had the exact right amount of spice. For appetizers we ordered agedashi (fried tofu) which was surprisingly good. The less-than-positives: we had to ask twice for water refills on a 90-degree day; presentation of the food could use some work, although everything we tried was delicious. I was a little nervous about trying some of the sushi plates floating around the bar, because I don't know how long they leave them there if nobody takes them. This is not a high-end restaurant, but the cleanliness of this place, the friendliness of its staff, and the quality of the food make this a higher-than-average place to eat. The food is light but satisfying. Definitely recommend.

    (4)

  • Muggle B.

    This is my favorite Japanese restaurant for lunch. Their sushi bar is terrific. The chefs here are very friendly and happily take custom orders without flinching. The prices and the quality of the food are excellent.

    (5)

  • Michelle D.

    such a good place to come for some casual japanese food. It's not a really fancy place where you eat fancy japanese food but more of a nice place where you can eat heartily. THE PORTIONS ARE A REALLY GENEROUS SIZE I came here with my co-workers and was really happy with what we ended up ordering. We got ox-tongue (don't let the creepy name scare you!) and some fried chicken for appetizers and it was absolutely delicious. the ox-tongue basically tasted like really yummy beef and the fried chicken came with some salad and their dressing is so gooood. I ended up ordering a oyaka don for my main meal which WAS FREAKIN AWESOME :) oyaka don is a really good order for those who like rice with eggs mixed with chicken and scallions mixed with a really yummy broth-like combination. warning my boss got the udon and the noodles weren't real udon noodles but the soup tasted nice.

    (4)

  • Keiko S.

    Minus 1 star for having no white board specials Minus 1 star for cold miso soup Minus 1 star for diluted, disgusting green tea Minus 1 star for tasteless, mushy tofu steak Minus 1 star for oddly hardened mackerel Minus 1 star for undrained, watery hiyayakko Minus 1 star for candy-like teriyaki sauce . . . Wait a sec, Yelp doesn't allow negative star reviews. Fine...this ONE star goes to our friendly waiter. SUM: This isn't the same as San Jose or Menlo Park GOMBEI

    (1)

  • Gene K.

    Gombei is our favorite Japanese restaurant for down home and casual Japanese food. Our favorites are the combination dinners with teriyaki chicken and agedashi tofu or saba shioyaki and California roll. Their tempura udon is out of this world and their curry rice with chicken cutlet is flavorful and spicy. Their prices are very reasonable and the service is great. Gombei is owned by the owners of Kubota which is one of my favorites as to higher end Japanese food. You can also sit at their sushi bar which is fun if you are in the mood for well made and fresh sushi. Five stars for me.

    (5)

  • Frances W.

    This used to be a family favorite until my dad got sick of it just because we came here so often! This doesn't change anything though - even though I visit this place much less often, the food still tastes great. I recommend their rice dishes and udon. My all time favorite at Gombei is the Katsudon - the porkcutlet is cooked perfectly so it's not too salty and not too dry, and the rice part is full of flavor. My brother also ordered a curry here once and loved it! The portions are also pretty big - Gombei isn't too pricey of a place to begin with, so it's definitely worth the buck. The sushi bar is OK - the sushi rolls (like the California or Dragon rolls) are decent but not amazing nor unique. The sashimi is good, but even better if you know how to spot a good and fresh fish for the perfect texture and flavor. Usually if you ask the sushi chefs at the bar to directly cut you up some sashimi, they'll give you the good parts of the fish :D

    (4)

  • An N.

    Pretty cool place only because the sushi plates that came around. I was hoping to have more of a variety but the same plates kept passing by.

    (3)

  • C H.

    Happy staff, good vibe, good basic Japanese. Crispy Burdock Root Chips good n earthy Grilled hamachi had the umami Ganmo Spiced calamari salad Beef short ribs; loved the shisho leaves Everything Could have been better with a little less sugar; could've been more savory Complimentary ocha Will be back but will have to ask for no added sugar. No dogs allowed:(

    (4)

  • Betty N.

    **AVERAGE AND BORING JAPANESE COMFORT FOOD IN SANTA CLARA** Not a fan of sushi boats. How long did that sat out, circling around? Better yet, did that guy touch that roll and changed his mind. Awesome. Sat down immediately with no wait. The waiter quickly came by and took our drink order. The menu was *ok*, nothing stood out and in fact, it bored me. Everything appeared to be mundane and average at best. *YAWN* Admired the many Nelson bubble lamps hanging overhead. It was noisy. We could hear annoying business dudes talking loudly nearby. ORDERED: (1) The Lychee Sake Martini ($7) was pretty decent. A little bit on the sweet side, but quenched my lychee craving. (2) Chicken Donburi ($8.50) was made TWICE for me. To my liking, in fact. I wanted the scrambled egg to be a bit *runny*. So an extra star for effort. Next time we might venture in again to try the udon. BUT for the most part, our experience here was BORING.

    (3)

  • Ben H L.

    I've been to the Gombei in J-town twice but this Gombei takes the cake in terms of space and comfort. Yes, it has the big sushi boat thing in the middle of the room unlike the other two locations but it's nice to not feel like a sardine once in a while. The day i came to this location, I had the oyako don. I asked for my egg to be cooked well done as that is what I'm used to. For $7.75, it was a lot of food which included a salad too. The other dishes like the combinations with or without seafood exceeded $11 or so but that's still quite affordable pricing. The lunch hour that I came here, there were plenty of workers from Kaiser including doctors, nurses, and the whole gamut. I'll take it as a good sign that professional health care workers would eat here for their lunch hour. I may try the sushi next time I come here but I like this Gombei for their spacious dining room.

    (4)

  • Michelle C.

    This might be my least favorite Gombei compared to the one in Menlo Park and Japantown. This one is different in that it has a large sushi bar in the middle of the restaurant. Maybe the service was so poor because they are trying to do too many things at once. It took them a while to get the food to the table. My spicy tuna roll was weird because the tuna was in chunks instead of being chopped up. They lacked the croquette items offered at the Menlo Park and Japantown location. Overall the service and the food is not as good as the other Gombei locations.

    (3)

  • Vicky L.

    I grew up eating at the Gombei in Japantown. It can be a far drive from the Peninsula so we eat at the Santa Clara location. The downside is that they don't have the beloved white board specials at this location. They offer a good variety of sushi that the Japantown location doesn't have and takes credit card while the other one is cash only but I love the whiteboard specials! They put together all sorts of homecooking goodness! Stay away from the udon at both locations, as it can be soggy and not al dente. The fried calamari has always been consistent; same with the teriyaki chicken.

    (3)

  • Kathy D.

    CASH AND CREDIT AVAILABLE HERE. This was my first time eating at Gombei, even though I tried numerous times to go to the Gombei in downtown SJ. I failed due to not having cash or it was just way too crowded fro the wait, that I never got the chance to try the one downtown. I decided to come to the one in my area last weekend for lunch, and I did not regret the sushi picks we got. Their sushi is basic but fresh and hits the spot. It is at a very reasonable price, which keeps you ordering for more!! $2 for the basic spicy tuna rolls, and others... $3 for the tuna, unagi, unagi rolls, hamachi rolls...$4 for rainbow rolls, spicy scallop rolls, and fatty tuna... Those are the few selections under each category! We also ordered the combo of teriyaki chicken and fried shrimp, which came with a side of rice, salad, and miso soup for $9. This was nothing special so next time, if i come here, I will mainly order the sushi selections only! Service was great and friendly.. I liked the venue, where it was very spacious unlike the one in downtown, clean, and very pleasing to the eye...

    (3)

  • Michael W.

    Located off Homestead and Lawrence, this place seems pretty Korean owned to me. Surrounded by Korean shops and a supermarket, it might be true. As far as food goes, it's pretty much your standard Japanese restaurant menu. Katsu, sushi, miso soup, etc. Nothing spectacular or out of the ordinary. Prices are pretty standard too. $11 for a dinner box. The thing that brings this place down is the service. I honestly waited 10 minutes for someone to get my check. Apparently fluttering my hands around like a fool doesnt work.

    (3)

  • Teri C.

    A long day of shopping can leave you very hungry. And in the case of hanging out with my mom, her number one choice is always sushi since dad doesn't care for the stuff. My mom called her friend who lives in the Santa Clara area for a referral for sushi. She suggested Gombei. After a few wrong turns, we saw the big sign for this, and also noticed the Korean market next doors as well. Noting immediately that this was a sushi boat (conveyor belt) type place, we sat at a table instead. My mom went for the Mix Sashimi Salad for $16.50 while I went for the Mix Sashimi for $16.50. We were both served miso soup while I got a side salad. Both our orders came with rice as well. My mom's order arrived on a bed of soba noodles and a light salad, with about 14 pieces of sashimi. (She requested no saba or ebi on hers.) My order came with about 16 slices of sashimi. We were both pleasantly surprised with the quantity and quality of the fish we got. All of it seemed very fresh. We even threw an order of uni nigiri for $5. Service was okay. There were a lot of young men working and although they were very nice, we did have to request for more tea. (A total pet peeve of ours.) Overall, we were both impressed with Gombei for what we got. I definitely would go back if I was in the area. (Pics posted!)

    (4)

  • Shellie W.

    This is a great place for fresh sushi and friendly service. The fish is fresh and well made and reasonably priced. Unfortunately because of these three things I find myself at the bar or picking up sushi at least twice a week! Yum! The only problem I have had is when I order to go it always takes much longer than they tell me on the phone. As for the bleach that one person mentioned, I didn't smell it and I have a very sensitive nose. And to Herman of Sunnyvale...seriously ???

    (4)

  • Chrissy H.

    One of our favorite Japanese restaurants! We love the one in Menlo Park as well but this one is closer to home and they 're very similar. Large Sushi Bar and they have daily specials that are YUMMY and quite a variety to choose from. Other than the Sushi there we really love the Beef Yakiniku with the ginger marinade. It's not usually on the regular menu but we've noticed it's a special on occasion. We just order it off the menu when we're there. Fairly generous portions for the hungry. Service is excellent , the Hostess is a Sweetie and the Manager is always wanting to please. Hey, how bad could that be?

    (4)

  • Henry Y.

    Yeah, I was put off by the sushi conveyer belt. Yeah, I came here because I didnt want to wait 15 minutes at Orenchi. But I also happen to love Gombei in SJ Japantown, and therefore had to try this one eventually. However, this one does not have "Gombei Chicken". No frickin' Gombei Chicken. How dare you call yourself Gombei and not have Gombei Chicken?. I've eaten Gombei Chicken countless times over 20 years in SJ Jtown and I expected countless+1 here. But it was not to be. Gombei Chicken, for the initiated, is teriyaki chicken + the most amazing fried potato curry croquette + shrimp tempura, miso, rice and a nice big salad. That's the lunch version. The dinner version is the same except with an extra tonkatsu. It's a rager. The Santa Clara Gombei does not make the curry croquette so I guess they give up and don't do the shrimp tempura either. Leaving just the teriyaki chicken meal. You can get it with the pork tonkatsu which I did. So the disappointment factor brought this down to 3 stars but the fact that the food is still really good, the service great and attentive, and heck it still is a Gombei after all, had to crank it to 4 stars. Meanwhile, it's back to jtown for my next fix.

    (4)

  • Rex K.

    Yet another iteration of subpar Japanese food on a street full of it. Tempura batter (and any Japanese preparation of fried foods, really) is meant to be light and crispy. Thick, puffed up layers of the batter are meant to simulate western methods of double frying, even though the food only sees oil once. Despite this, Gombei has seemingly let their line cooks bring in whatever training they must have had from American diners/wherever else to push out dark, deep fried, french bread crumb shrimp to dirty our palates. Their saba shioyaki also left much to be desired, as they were clearly mutilated to fit shapes fit for the plate rather than clean cut from the fish. Grill marks and a crispy skin are meant to be the defining characteristics of this dish, not the feeling of charcoal briquettes rolling around in one's mouth. Though I did not find the opportunity to sample one of my dinner companions' udons, I can't say I was much tempted. Aside from that, I cannot seem to recall anything else the table ordered. Probably a roll or two. I hate that. Rolls have to be authentic sushi's bane. That isn't to say I've never had a good roll in my life, quite the contrary...sometimes I get random cravings for crap food too. It's similar to taco bell, though. No one believes they serve authentic Mexican cuisine there. Do you sometimes want to try their ridiculous inventions (yes, I'm talking about you, Doritos taco thingy)? Of course, but it's still pains you when people say "mmmm...I love Mexican food! Let's go to taco bell". So when you order rolls at restaurants...I judge you. This entire place gives me that feeling. *A note about my rating system. I do not give ok places 3 stars. It leaves you nowhere to go for truly phenomenal experiences. I will not be returning (of my own volition) to any place below 2 stars...so why have so many ways to rate something below average? If I have serious complaints, they'll be detailed in the writing, not in the rating. 1 star - not good (maybe even bad). nothing to see here. perhaps even bad service. would not return. 2 stars - nothing outstanding. regular food. may even have a random craving for the food and return on my own if I'm not feeling spendy or craving anything in particular. 3 stars - very good as a whole. one or two outstanding menu items. would definitely come back, particularly if it is local and cannot think of where else to eat. would readily accept a friend's invitation to dine here. 4 stars - amazing. at least 2 things must be ranked within top 3 best iterations of the type of food. must be fairly consistent. service to match. 5 stars - mind-altering. will always want to come back. Consistent and definitely worth a trip to go to. large majority of dishes must be best of breed. I will also give these to 4 star places that I frequent.

    (1)

  • Patty O.

    Orenchi was closed on Monday, so we decided to head over across the street to Gombei. We all wanted noodles..so we all got Udon. I ordered the chicken udon $7.50. It was served with "udon noodles", soup, chicken, and egg. I thought it was only ok, but I probably would not order it again. The noodles seemed like regular noodles, and not like the thick udon noodles that I normally see. Taste wise it was nothing special, but edible since we were all hungry and prepping for a big night of studying. Service wise, the servers were tentative and friendly and frequently refilled glasses and checked to see if we were okay.

    (3)

  • Arthur T.

    the "sushi belt" has very limited choice. so even if you're sitting there, you might still want to order from the manual. the hamachi kama is awesome, toro is also very good (just a bit too small.)

    (4)

  • Stacey L.

    Came here for lunch because I had forgotten Orenchi was closed on Mondays. The restaurant is actually quite big, despite the outward appearance. I got the sushi platter while my sister opted for the chirashi. $12.75 for both but you definitely get what you pay for. Both come with the standard soup and salad. I have to say, the miso soup was tasty and had an interesting twist to it with a few pieces of potato. Too bad that was the only impressive thing about my lunch. My sushi platter came with 6 different pieces of nigiri plus 3 California rolls. The quality of the fish though was really not so impressive. It wasn't very fresh and the cuts were average sized. Portion was okay; left me full but unsatisfied. Also be aware that they charge an extra dollar for tea, which is another disappointment in my book. Overall experience wasn't the most terrible one I've had at a Japanese restaurant, but I'm 99% sure I won't be back since there are so many other better options around: TGI Sushi, Mizu Sushi, which are both in Campbell, both of which will surprise you for the amount and quality you pay for. The best way to describe the quality of the fish is no better than the quality of the sashimi at any sushi buffet.

    (2)

  • Lennie A.

    Good Japanese food at a reasonable price. Will come back again when I'm in the Bay Area.

    (4)

  • Dale D.

    I come here for lunch or dinner about once a month, and the food and service is always consistently good. They always have the sushi bar going if you like that, but I order off of the menu alot. They have a large parking lot where you can easily get a space and not have to worry about it being full, and the prices are very reasonable. When I do order the sushi, its always very fresh and visually appealing.

    (5)

  • Dartagnion P.

    My wife and I both love sushi. so when we walked into this place we got excited. So many choices and really good Sake to boot! If you are unsure of what type of sushi to try, the sushi bar has a conveyer belt of different choices circling the bar and the chef's constantly replenish the stock. Prices are fantastic ranging from 1.50 a plate to 4.25ish at the bar we had so much sushi and didn't even break the $40 mark!! Furthermore, the Chefs and staff are all very friendly; striking up conversation with us while we were sitting at the bar.

    (5)

  • Jenna Z.

    This is our go to place when we don't know what to eat and we're really hungry! Gombei is like a diner for Japanese food. I would imagine the Denny's in Japan to ressemble Gombei haha. There is usually a wait during the dinner/lunch hours but it is quite fast, I've never waited more than 15 minutes for a table. I always order from the white board! My all time favorites have the fried tofu in a dashi soup. I love how causal the place is for a homey meal. The two ladies who work here are super cute. I always see them when ever I come here. I don't know how to review the food since I always get something different each time. I always order something with fish or their yakiniku beef... sooo good. If you ever find yourself at Gombei, remember to read the white board!

    (4)

  • Jessica C.

    I saw this on Chris E.'s yelp review, and being that it's a Japanese place that I hadn't tried yet and really close to where I live, when the guys from tennis asked me to pick the dinner spot I picked this place :D They forewarned me that it wasn't anything special, so when I got there I was really pleasantly surprised. We looked at the menu and couldn't decide what to get. Chris mentioned that the other Gombei had curry, when the waiter hears this he says they have it as well, just it wasn't on the menu. It's like BING yes that's what I want. Broiled chicken curry, and then because 1) I'm with the heavy hitter eating tennis guys, and 2) I always want to have sushi I ordered a side of yellowtail and scallops. Besides the 2 pieces of sushi were predominately 3 dollars! That's the value! The fish was actually really tasty and fresh. We were late getting there so there wasn't much to pull from the conveyor belt. But the curry was YUM and everything else was great. And even though we stayed well past closing they were really nice and didn't kick us out or rush us and asked us about drink refills frequently. Oh and then we made fun of Mark mushing all his curry plate together till it turned into an unrecognizable mush. Good times.

    (5)

  • Sumdum-Fooka U.

    Top notch, A+: 1. Authentic (there's always tons if Japanese people in there); 2. Delicious, hungry-man portions; 3. Friendly, attentive, and quick service; 4. Prices are super fair and hard to beat (high value!) I'm going back. Again. And, Again!

    (5)

  • Jay C.

    We usually shop at the grocery store next door quite often and always saw people lining up to try this place so we thought maybe it was good. We had the teriyaki chicken and the beef dan. It wasn't good, I don't know why people line up for this place but L&L chicken across the street makes teriyaki chicken better than this place and the beef dan was weird, maybe it just wasn't for me. Before we got our food, the waiter brought us somebody else's order and told us sorry I'll have your order out soon.

    (2)

  • D C.

    I love going there because they have very good donburi, teriyaki chicken and decent sushi. You can definitely satisfy your stomach with authentic Japanese food without paying a high cost. Service is just OK. Need to be there before 12 in order to beat the crowd during lunch hour.

    (4)

  • Patricia C.

    Great for a quick lunch pit stop. Ask to sit at the sushi bar, pick out a few plates, and then you can be on your way.

    (3)

  • James C.

    I'm torn about Gombei. I've been to the locations in Japan Town, Menlo Park and this one in Santa Clara. The sushi is simply too inconsistent. It goes from 'good' to barely edible. I'm not expecting top notch quality given its price point and this is where Gombei is tough to rate. When the sushi is good, given the price, the place is an excellent value and quality. I would eat here regularly but when the sushi is sub-par...well better luck next time. In terms of the non-sushi items like the teriyaki and tempura... they are fine but the Gombei in San Jose in Japan Town is far superior (the san jose location typically do not serve sushi). Overall, worth a gamble.

    (3)

  • Jenna L.

    This place is one of our go-to Japanese places, just because they have pretty much everything you'd want - sushi, katsudon, udon, all the regular stuff, and it's way less crowded than the Gombei in SJ Jtown (though I will say that I think the quality of food in the JTown location is better). This one also has a kaiten zushi (conveyor belt). We were starving when we walked in, so we didn't mind grabbing a few things off the belt to start. We got the salmon nigiri and some stuffed inari, both of which were pretty good. Then to fill us up, I ordered a katsudon, and my boyfriend got the fish special. My katsudon was, of course, WAY too large for me to finish, so I ended up with leftovers for lunch the next day. The boyfriend's meal came with some tasty crab croquette that were pretty good too. I really like this place - decent food, decent prices, awesome selection - plus, if it gets too crowded, there are other similar options nearby.

    (4)

  • Christina July K.

    A pretty amazing guy took me here last night for dinner & I had a great time! This place is cool because it has a SUSHI BOAT :D Although we sat at a table, I made a mental note for myself to sit at the sushi bar next time so I can pick and choose what I want, when I want. We ordered sashimi, udon, spicy tuna roll, spicy scallop roll, rainbow roll and 2 pieces of sushi. All of it was good - no complaints but I especially liked the sashimi :) The menu layout is a little strange and if you want sashimi, it's hidden on the front at the top.

    (4)

  • Karen L.

    I had dinner here with my boyfriend's family for his father's birthday, I'm speechless. It was terrible! Seafood Poki (appetizer, can be made into a meal) - Skip it. It was warm tuna that wasn't even fresh. Tonkatsu - dry and nothing to rave about. Deep Seafood Mix - It's basically just poorly cut pieces of unfresh seafood battered up and deep fried. Last thing, never in my life had I EVER had BITTER MISO SOUP. What the hell?! At first I thought it was the mixture of the sauce and miso soup clashing, but it wasn't. I tried my boyfriend's soup and his was completely fine. His mom's, sisters, and mine were all bitter. We were thinking about complaining and asking for a new soup, but why bother when we were never going to come back anyway. This place is a poor excuse for a Japanese restaurant, steer AWAY.

    (2)

  • Jesse J.

    Had lunch with my friend here today. Met at 12, and it was pretty busy. We sat at the sushi bar which was very cute. I liked the wood overhang. The sushi chefs felt sort of far away, but it may be because we were seated on the end of the bar. Reasonably priced, and pretty decent quality for the price. The servers were very nice and readily available. He ordered the Chicken Teriyaki, a crab roll, a plate of edamame, and I had a plate of the Cali Roll, Edamame, and the New York Roll. The bill with tip was about $26. I'll definitely be going back, switch it up between Yuki and Yo Yos.

    (3)

  • Skye W.

    Good prices and selection. Chirashi was decently fresh, but not the best. I did like the rice. I wouldn't recommend getting that here. Coworkers got donburi, it looked huge and delish. I would definitely come back for price and selection

    (3)

  • Pablo R.

    This is a fantastic restaurant. I come as often as I can with my wife, family, and friends. The food is good (not luxury sushi, but good) and the location is convenient for me. It's a little more pricier than I would like, but I don't mind because it's clean and the staff is generally helpful and friendly.

    (4)

  • Nicole G.

    Have only tried the sushi once and it was pretty good, although I can't say too much about it, but every time I come here the sushi bar has people frequenting it, so I do want to try it, too! The reason I haven't really tried the sushi is because the teriyaki is just SO GOOD! The portions are great, the sauce isn't too sweet and syrupy, but just right, and the chicken itself is great - none of the fat or skin that some places leave on (I personally don't like chicken fat/skin). One of my favorite places to get great chicken with fast service! They also offer you water or hot tea if you're waiting for takeout. So nice!

    (5)

  • Matt V.

    Gombei is decent, but ultimately doesn't amount to much. The ambiance has a nice understatement to it. Wooden tables and wooden chairs line a tile floor. Hanging from the ceiling are lantern-shaped lamps. The atmosphere of the restaurant is unassuming, but creates a nice quiet mood. The service is a bit slow; the restaurant has a lot of tables and few servers, and there will be long stretches of time when you won't see your server at all. Also, it seemed the cook forgot my order at one point, so the food was even slower coming out that it normally would have been (and it is already normally a bit on the slow side). This would be forgivable if the food were worth the wait. Unfortunately, it really wasn't; there just wasn't much to speak about here. It comes out rather bland and flavorless. I've had both the pork tonkatsu (deep fried pork rolled in panko/bread crumbs) as well as the sabo shioyaki. Neither one of them were particularly impressive. Overall, the understatement of the decor unfortunately crossed over to the taste of the food. It doesn't taste bad, just as the decor doesn't look bad, but it does leave you wanting a bit more.

    (3)

  • Tony Y.

    A typical Japanese place with typical food. I ordered the katsu and it was pretty standard with nice presentation. The interesting thing is that they have a echiago beer which is some fancy import beer that has light crispness similar to most Asian beers and a stout that's pretty heavy. Overall a "fusion" experience with Korean style Japanese food and mexican wait staff.

    (3)

  • Seong P.

    I went for a late lunch and it wasn't as crowded as I've seen the San Jose or Menlo Park locations. I enjoyed my enormous portion of salmon shioyaki which came with a huge salad, miso soup and rice for less than $10. Good value even though I felt like I wasted food. It's not a destination spot but not bad for a quick and super filling lunch.

    (3)

  • Vicki C.

    Tucked in the corner, I tried this Gombei location last weekend and I have to say I was quite disappointed. I've only eaten at another Gombei (the one in SJ Japantown) and honestly I don't think it can compare at all. Maybe because it's not located in the heart of a Japantown, but still how can the menu be that different? Is it because I went for dinner? On a weekend? I felt like this Gombei location was just like any other sushi restaurant that had bento box options on their menu. Unlike the SJ Japantown location, they didn't have the "specials" and a wide variety of food orders. Not to mention, I think I paid more than what I usually pay at the other Gombei. I ordered the Beef Teriyaki and Fried Tofu ($12) and the beef was the only highlight of that order. The beef was cooked to perfection and juicey and flavorful. My fried tofu? Was drenched in failsauce. Who fries 4 pieces of tofu and feels the need to then submerge it in a bowl (yes, a soup bowl) of the dipping sauce? By the time my meal was even served to me, my fried tofu was soggy and hard to pick up. Bad idea in my opinion. I honestly don't think I would come back to this location anytime soon. Hands down the one in Japantown is better. Please feel free to enlighten me if there is a difference between the two. If you want a more authentic Gombei or even a more cultural experience with NON sushi Japanese food, try the Gombei in SJ Japantown. Good quality food and you're paying the same price as you would for my meal but you get a better quality and variety of food, compared to some (in my opinion) boring menu. *On the random note, I remember that before it was a Gombei, it used to be a sushi boat restaurant and it sucked. Maybe that's why I felt kind of hesitant to come to this place even when it was Gombei.*

    (3)

  • Dawn D.

    I'm headed over to a doctor's appt in a bit, which reminded me that I haven't reviewed this place. We were pretty excited to try out this Gombei since we're such regulars at the Japantown location, but we were a bit disappointed. We came in for dinner. I think I ordered the veggie donburi or something and my husband ordered a bento box, but it was just OK. We ordered one sushi - can't remember which nigiri but it was good but we were not wowed. We left thinking, we probably won't go back. The restaurant was pretty empty and I remember the sushi chefs talking about stuff on craigslist. I wondered how long all the sushi will be rotating on the boats since there was no one to eat it. Service was OK as well. We'd rather try other restaurants than go back.

    (3)

  • Shayne T.

    Very friendly staff...Hawaiian Poke way too sweet and way too much sesame oil, and my teri beef came out cold...

    (2)

  • Carol L.

    Perhaps I had high hopes because the Gombei in downtown San Jose is one of my favorite restaurants since I was a kid. This Gombei pales in comparison. The first noticeable difference is the big sushi boat in the middle of the restaurant, while the dtsj Gombei has little to no sushi selection. But no matter, I'm there for my "kitchen food," my comfort food. So I ask for one of my favorites -- the curry croquette. My jaw dropped when I found they didn't have their specialty, the croquettes. So instead, I gave the sushi a try. Ugh. Sorry, this sushi snob is still not a fan of the quality at most sushi boat places, unless it's true bang for your buck. All in all, I'd go elsewhere for better sushi/sashimi, and I'd go to the dtsj Gombei for Japanese kitchen food. Nothing for me here.

    (2)

  • Carol L.

    My parents really like Gombei, and I have always thought it was good until my last visit - when I thought it was really good. I used to feel that Gombei's menu was slightly limited. However, I now realize, and appreciate, that the restaurant focuses on serving what that they make best, down to the fine details. I really don't think you can get anything bad here. The chefs at Gombei have texture down pat - tuna teriyaki is just right (neither too dry nor too flaky), sashimi smooth and creamy, and panko bread crumbs on all the katsus fried to crisp perfection. The only thing that can be a tad tough to eat is some parts of the beef, but this is very minor (at most 3 pieces, and only small parts of those pieces). I am also impressed by Gombei's sauces. The flavor of the tartar sauce for the fried calamari and shrimp could be stronger, but again, this is minor, especially in light of how much I enjoyed the other sauces. I recently tried the beef yakiniku, which is similar to teriyaki beef but with a different sauce (also sweet but not too sweet). I liked the sauce so much that I wanted to take it home with me. Unfortunately, my efforts were thwarted, as I could not devise a way to transfer the sauce into my take-out box without making a mess and mixing said sauce with my salad dressing (which I also fancy, just prefer that on my salad and not on my beef). Speaking of salad, even the salad lettuce is great! If I remember correctly, it's more of a butter lettuce or green-leaf lettuce type than iceberg (of which I'm not a fan). The greens are always fresh, and you get a lot! More attention to details: The orange slice is sweet, juicy, and generous; the tea is never lukewarm, and the service is always spot-on. I also like the miso soup, and, call me what you will, the wood Gombei uses for the sushi bar! We came here for my mom's birthday last year and my dad's this year - maybe the next birthday lunch at Gombei will be mine!

    (5)

  • Cynthia C.

    Came here a couple of weeks ago because Orenchi Ramen was closed. Food's not impressive. Beef tongue was probably the best part of the entire meal. Nice and chewy. We ordered some sushi - spider roll & spicy tuna roll... it was just a lot of rice and didn't have much flavor. For my meal I had the kitsune udon, which is the tofu pieces in udon. The tofu pieces were extremely sweet and just tasted weird with the salty soup. Probably won't be back here again.

    (2)

  • Jennifer B.

    Edamame... California rolls... maguro nagiri... inari... California rolls... more California rolls... tako... spicy tuna... edamame... maguro nagiri... tamago... Dragon Roll! Score! So, variety may be lacking in the boats, or maybe we just sat in an unlucky seat, but sometimes it was far and few between before we could find a diamond in the rough among the endless California rolls and edamame plates. But oh when those rolls did come by, did we eat them with gusto. And if they didn't, the sushi chefs are pleased to specialty make you a roll here. On this visit, I had the tamago sushi, maguro nigiri, Dragon Roll, and korokke - although these aren't really anything fancy to begin with, they were all pretty standard and satisfying. The place gets bumped to four stars because of their menu items. The calamari salad was phenomenal, and the Korean-style short ribs were the most tender, flavorful cuts of meat I've had in a while. Those two items are worth a trip alone.

    (4)

  • Tuyen L.

    I'm giving this place 2 stars just because it is affiliated with the Japan Town restaurant (Which is one of my favorite restaurants in SJ) I've had 2 experiences with this location. One for take out, and one for dine in. Sad to say that after these experiences, I will not be coming back. Take out - A really unfriendly hostess greeted me and my coworker. People working there in general seems like they hate life. I was a bit ticked off when i asked for tonkatsu sauce, and was told that it's included, only to find out that it wasn't and had to walk back in to get it. The food i had togo tasted close to the other location, but i didn't think much since I always dine in at the other place. Maybe there's a discrepancy due to the travel time back to work. Dine in - Me and my gf went here to dine in recently, because Orenchi was closed ;( We tried the uni sushi, it looked old and sad and tasted fishy. The food took 20+ minutes before the first plate came out (hers). After 10 more minutes of waiting, I had to ask our server (who was not really paying attention to the tables he is serving. It wasn't that busy at the time anyway) and he went back into the kitchen and brought out my plate. On my plate, the chicken was already partly cold. The salad was not dried properly, and there's a good puddle of water in my plate. The tonkatsu was soggy on the bottom due to it being on the wet salad. To me this is evidence that my plate has been sitting there for a long time. When our server brought my plate out, there was zero acknowledgement or apology or concern of any sort. After these experiences, I'm convinced that the Gombei restaurants are not ran in the same manner. It is a world of difference between this location and the SJ location, both in terms of food and service. I will not come back here, nor recommend anyone here. Go to the Japan town location, so you can see what a wonderful restaurant this one could have been.

    (2)

  • Agent X.

    Gombei offers my favorite treat, which is the inari with crab meat on top :D (I've heard it's called Special Inari or Happy Sack). I always order their tempura udon, and I can never finish it all. Occasionally there is a line, but with so many tables/booths/bar seats the wait is typically short.

    (4)

  • Noriel A.

    The sushi platter is a winner!

    (3)

  • Felissa M.

    Setting is a bit off for a Japanese spot. The sashimi was okay, it could've been a bit fresher. The sushi pieces at the boat were nothing to be excited over. Although the Donburi and other dinner plates were good. A good place to go for a cheap Japanese thrill!

    (3)

  • Jimmy L.

    I called in three orders of Beef Yakinaku for lunch (two medium-rare, and one rare) to-go. They said ten minutes, and they were right-on-the-money; I waited a few minutes, and by the time I drove there (a mile away), it was ready. For the amount of food that you get, the taste, and the quality, the price is reasonable at $9.75 per plate, though still a little bit more than I want to spend for something on the lunch menu; (i.e. I could prob get by with a slightly smaller food portion for a dollar or two cheaper) The food food was really warm and really good comfort food for a cold rainy day! In all three of our dishes, the beef was cooked medium-well; there as no pink at all! There is a huge difference from rare, and medium-rare, which is why I'm giving 'em three stars this time. They are still one of my fave places, though!

    (3)

  • Winifred X.

    A disappointment compared to the original store in San Jose, I came here expecting really good bento boxes but found that they actually serve sushi here (the original store does not)... and the food here is pretty generic Japanese stuff... I had the $11 chirashi (10 pieces of fish), fairly nice and they put potato chunks in the miso soup(?!) CA roll is also avg... nothing really stood out, avg price for avg food with avg deco.

    (3)

  • Catherine Y.

    I love their Chicken Katsu Curry dish! Make sure you check if you can still get it for dinner even though it's not on their menu for dinner. Service is good, food comes out pretty fast, price is reasonable, and love their curry. One of my favorite places for chicken katsu curry. :)

    (4)

  • Ebony B.

    I love getting my sushi rolls from here. The prices and portions are good and the rolls always taste very fresh.

    (4)

  • CeCe C.

    Go to the J-town one instead Ordered and shared the chicken teriyaki and pork cutlet ($8.50) Might as well get a roll of spicy scallop ($4.00) and dragon roll ($4.00) Brings us the the bill Expected something better, where's the white board? I didn't quite like the rice: sticky and yet hard Good... - They accept credit cards (including AmEx) - They serve sushi - More seating area Bad... - No whiteboard with specials - Doesn't feel like it's Japanese run - Sushi is a bit pricey (3 pieces for around $4). If you get more than 2 orders, you might as well get another entree.

    (2)

  • Kim N.

    Gombei has certainly achieved a mini empire. I remember eating at the Menlo Park locale when I first moved out here. Now they're in Sunnyvale and Santa Clara with their brand of Japanese comfort foods. It's weird but I remember the Menlo Park one (which I have now confirmed after returning a month or so ago) just having better overall flavor and quality. Tempura shrmip udon, katsu don, and chicken kara-age were just ok. Even service was just ok. Besides that the service here is also different. At the MP one you get a much more homey mom and pop feel, while the folks here are just running any old restaurant. I know it's trek but the MP branch is just way more enjoyable!

    (3)

  • Julie K.

    A friend and I stopped by for lunch, a little after one during the work week, and the restaurant was packed. There isn't much in the way of a waiting area, but standing there did give me a chance to check out the interior and admire the cool Japanese lamps (you know, the ones that cost about $300 at DWR). There's a large sushi bar in the middle of the restaurant--a first for all the Gombeis, I think. I was tempted to get sushi, but once seated, I decided to save sushi for next time. I almost ordered curry, because one of the guys at the next table had a huge plate of that in front of him and it looked and smelled delicious. But instead I ordered the tonkatsu lunch, while my friend went with the sushi lunch special. Both lunches came with miso soup, which was flavorful and full of tofu, seaweed, and some type of potato. My tonkatsu plate arrived with two thick panko-breaded pork cutlets, which were a little on the dry side. I think they would have been better if they'd been pounded thinner (like my mom does), so they wouldn't need to cook as long (and also dry out). My friend's sushi platter included basic nigiri, such as maguro, ebi, and sake, plus some California roll. It looked good, so perhaps I should have gone with my initial plan to order sushi. I'll definitely go back to try more, since the portions are large and the prices are reasonable. My tonkatsu plate was only $8, and the enormous bento box lunches I saw at other tables were only a little bit more. I'll just have to have a bigger appetite next time!

    (3)

  • Jennifer W.

    Ok, I need to do an update about this. We took our parents here for dinner one night since our parents didn't eat Japanese food yet since the menu offered Veggie Udon and some veggie rolls. Ok, the udon wasn't udon. It was Chinese noodles. We were quite disappointed. The tempera was delicious. We also had the agedashi tofu, tomato and mushroom salad, avocado roll, and mushroom rolls as appetizers. Well, these dishes were okay. Sorry, Gombei, I have to deduct one star for the noodles since that was our main course. If you ran out of udon, please let us know, then we could have ordered something else rather then giving us Chinese noodles. If we knew we would be getting that, we would have went to a Chinese noodle shop!

    (2)

  • Jerry Y.

    Where's the sushi? This place has a huge "sushi boat" bar in the middle, so my wife and I decided to try this place out. After sitting at the bar, we realized that there was hardly any sushi on the sushi boat conveyor belt. And the chefs weren't making any new sushi. So we flagged down a waiter and ordered food off the menu. But the menu has no sushi on it! Weird! Pros: + Teriyaki salmon and chicken are okay. + Prices are reasonable. Cons: - Sushi on the "boats" are lacking and not desirable. - Menu lists no sushi. No salmon nigiri. No uni. I'm going elsewhere for sushi next time.

    (2)

  • Jeralyn M.

    Gombei has the cheapest Cali Roll that I've found so far, AND they're HUGE and TASTY! I LOVE their salad dressing, my sister loves the orange sauce, and the sushi is great! Customer-service is GREAT, and fast! They remember the regulars orders, which is awesome! The sushi makers are fast, and fresh! We always ask them to make quite a few rolls for us when we arrive, therefore we know it's fresh! The serving size for everything else is average and normal. GREAT for lunch and dinner!

    (4)

  • Eri H.

    The main reason why I give this place 4 stars is... Their food was the first food I was able to enjoy and eat today. I am pregnant and it is hard to find food I will enjoy eating. I ordered their curry dish.. It was just delicious. I was indulging it! Hubby had the beef/chicken terriyaki combination and it was delicious! Had to try his beef. Thank you for a wonderful dinner!!!

    (4)

  • Albert H.

    Surprisingly good for the price! This is a rather odd branch of Gombei, and probably the newest one. The room is dominated by a large kaiten sushi bar ( not boats, but a conveyor ), and the location used to house another sushi restaurant which was fairly short-lived. We came late on a Friday to find that there was very little sushi going around the conveyor, though it was still easy to order whatever we liked. The place can get crowded during dinner rush. The sushi is nothing to write home about, but decent quality given the relatively low prices. We even had a semi-decent sashimi plate and they were happy to fry the amaebi head for us. Certainly, this place is a big step above something like Ariake, without actually being more expensive.

    (3)

  • Linda C.

    Cool place with sushi boat or you can get a table off to the side. They have a variety of sushi rolls, bento boxes, noodles, and appetizers to choose from. Service was nice and the food was okay, but nothing that stands out. - Tofu Steak w/ Enoki Mushrooms: okay, light, simple, soup okay - Sashimi Mix: variety of salmon, tuna, yellowtail, octopus, tasted somewhat fresh - Chicken Teriyaki & Tuna Sashimi Box: chicken was okay, tuna was good, salad average

    (3)

  • Jon L.

    Gombei is located in a strip mall in Santa Clara with a Korean supermarket nearby. It serves kaiten sushi as well as traditional Japanese food. Was seated at one of the tables away from the sushi bar. Although not seated at the sushi bar, you can order off the sushi menu. However, I opted for a chicken teriyaki and agedashi tofu combo. Based on what my cousin and his girlfriend told me about the place, Gombei can be sort of gross. As in hair in your meal. Fortunately, this not happen to me. What did happen was that our server brought the wrong combo. Although I asked for fried tofu, I was given fried shrimp. So I sent it back. By the time they brought me the tofu, I was done with the chicken teriyaki which was good. The tofu however was a little bit too soggy. I like the tofu to be crisp. Overall, I thought the food here was pretty decent and the prices were competitive. The service however was slow, at least for a late Saturday evening.

    (3)

  • sofiane b.

    One of my favorite joints for lunch, superb fresh sushi and sashimi

    (4)

  • Anna S.

    I have been to this location twice and both times, the service was great. I really dug their bento boxes due to the amount of food they give and their teriyaki salmon was generous and cooked perfectly. No joke, tender and not over cooked with an light sauce, not overpowering or too salty. They even accommodated my current low carb rule and gave me extra salad instead of rice. The sushi was good, but not knock my socks off great. The fish selection was nice but I am not an expert on fish quality. I tend to like the different crazy roll combos and they had a more traditional set from what I remember. It is fairly close to my home and it is open on Sundays during lunch, which a lot of places I wanted to check out weren't.

    (4)

  • Jim G.

    I have had several lunches at Gombei and have been pleased with each. In fact, it gets pretty busy in there during the traditional 12-1 lunch hour. I suggest going early (they open at 11:30) or past 1 (they close lunch at 2pm). You have your choice of sitting at the very large sushi bar/sushi boat or at tables. Opting for a table, I have been pleased with the prompt service and nice presentation of food. I am very impressed with their high quality sushi and specially enjoy the full-sized sushi pieces (some places make them so small around it is snack food; Gombei makes large around fill-your mouth pieces). Good soup and salad to go with a lunch sushi platter. The prices is about what I expect compared to others in the area. All-in-all, a good experience and I will return again. (Often)

    (4)

  • Yang Q.

    I only give this place the 3rd star because it has cheap, big-portioned entree plates and combos. But for the sushi alone, I'd only give it 2 stars. The sushi is served sushi boat style so you're never really sure how long that rainbow roll or uni has been sitting on that conveyor belt circling around and around. The ones we picked up tasted fine, but they were nothing special. You can also order fresh from the chefs, but the menu is pretty boring. They only offer nagiri/sashimi and your generic rolls: spicy tuna, spicy scallop, rainbow, vegetable, etc. I would come back for the cooked food though. The prices are cheap and the portions are substantial. The 1 item dinners are $8-10 and the 2 item combos are $10-13. All of them come with soup, salad, and rice. The beef teriyaki was yummy--instead of a slab of meat drenched in teriyaki sauce, Gombei serves it in bite-size pieces and if you order it medium, you can actually see the tender pinkness of each piece. I do wish they used ginger dressing with their salad and tempura sauce instead of tartar with their deep-fried shrimp, but hey I ate it and I was full.

    (3)

  • Bryce T.

    Just had it last night, so it's fresh in my mind. The service was decent, and the food was average. It was not the best Japanese feed I've eaten. However I loved the decor. The lamps lit up the room in a subtle and relaxing tone -- nothing harsh. The sushi was just plain average, I personally didn't care for it that much. Additionally the prices were low, and reasonable. What left me heart broken was the wait to eat at this restaurant. I saw two groups clustered around the waiting area. My heart bids them sympathy.

    (3)

  • Winson K.

    I went here for lunch and it was obviously a very popular place among the locals. We had to wait just to sit at the sushi bar. I was a little disappointed by the lack of variety coming out on the sushi boats but then again maybe it was just really busy during lunch time. I stuck with ordering off the menu. The chicken teri was pretty standard but the pork cutlet seemed try and lacked the flavor I prefer. My friend's sushi also seemed a bit on the "otay" side. All in all, seemed like a good place for a cheap fast lunch but still far from the sushi places that I would drive far to get.

    (3)

  • Brandon Y.

    After coming here a couple times, I must say that the food is only okay. This is surprising because the Gombei in San Jose Japantown is one of the best Japanese restaurants I've been to. However, this Gombei just does not compare. There are not the amazing specials of the day, the service is not too great, and the food is below average for a Japanese restaurant. Even though this one is closer, I'd much rather go a little farther to San Jose Japantown Gombei :P

    (2)

  • Jenn R.

    I ate here twice for lunch a couple weeks ago. The first time, I had the Salmon Lunch special which was pretty decent for $12. My lunch had 2 long strips of salmon, salad, miso soup, and rice. I couldn't even finish my meal. My co-worker had the sashimi lunch, which I tasted - thought it was fresh. You get a variety of 3 different fishes. The second time, I ate at the sushi go round. Compared to other sushi boat/bars, Gombei's sushi was prepared fresh (for the most part). Almost everything I tried, I liked. Pretty decent lunch spot. It helps to go with at least 3 people so that you can share and try different things. I ate at the downtown San Jose location for dinner once, which I thought was equally delicious. I was able to order some hand rolls which were made fresh.

    (4)

  • Anna G.

    This place didn't do it for me. Nothing memorable. My soup wasn't that great..something I could make at home..flavorless. Maybe I'll come back and try their sushi.

    (2)

  • Teresa G.

    The gang and I stopped in for a quick supper after learning that the Ramen place across the street was full. I got the chicken cutlet donburi. It's not bad. For less than $10, it came with soup, salad, and a giant rice bowl with chicken and egg. Advisory #1: They give you a LOT of rice. Advisory #2: They'll ask you how you want your eggs cooked. Say anything. No matter what you say, they'll end up a hybrid between sunny side up and scrambled. Advisory #3: There is a secret dinner menu. Well, the secret is that you can order curry at night even though it's normally a lunch item. Be warned though that it may take longer.

    (3)

  • Eric R.

    My favorite sushi restaurant in the world. I'm a regular for lunch. Price is reasonable, fish is super fresh and cheaper than anywhere else. If you want something not on the boats, just ask! You can leave here really full and happy for about $25. Staff is super friendly and your drink glass stays full. Gets really busy at lunch, just flag someone down when you are ready to leave. I never get hot food here, but I hear it is good. The miso soup is weird with chunks of potatoe in it....not very good. House salad and seaweed salad are killer and cheap, too.

    (5)

  • A M.

    Dining Details: Number in Party/Meal/Reservation/Price 7 people dinner no reservation ~18? Venue: Parking/Easy to find/Cleanliness/Lighting parking lot available not that easy to find, but the plaza is easy to find looks clean lighting okay Service: Seating speed/food speed/server attitude seating okay food slightly slow attitude ok Dishes: chicken teriyaki ok Overall comments: This gombei does not have the 'special' menu that the menlo park one does, so it's a little more expensive.

    (4)

  • H D.

    This is our usual Friday-Go-To for dinner...there is something for everyone- the service is great, very friendly people work here and they remember us, as we've been going there faithfully- for over 5 years. Not every Friday- but MANY Fridays...the sushi boat food usually has a great selection on the weekends- during the week days, if we go we have to order from the sushi chef specifically. For the cost, the value for money is great- but even more- we love the staff and enjoy the food- consistent quality- and experience.

    (4)

  • Tad S.

    After getting turned off by a large crowd of ppl waiting for their turns of slurp at Orenchi Ramen, my wife and I decided to scoot over to Gombei across Homestead Rd. We go to the original Gombei in San Jose Japan Town fairly regularly, but hadn't been to this one before. This Gombei is much larger in restaurant size and also offers sushi bar where the boats go around the counter. It is comparable to Sushi Maru although I think that this Gombei has an edge for the selections of non-sushi menu. I took a star off since they didn't have the white board that lists "today's specials", like the original Gombei does. We always order from the white board menu, and no matter what we order from the board, they are basically our comfort food. :) So, for us, not seeing it at this restaurant was a bit of disappointment. (***UPDATE: After writing this review, I was informed that they do have the white board menu. We couldn't find it when we were there last time, so will look for it next time!) So, we ordered from the regular menu. I settled with a dinner combo with chicken teriyaki and agedashi tofu. My wife got a broiled saba dinner set. I usually wouldn't order teriyaki chicken, but unless I missed, all I could find on the dinner combo (2 items) menu were with either beef teriyaki or chicken teriyaki. Since I am really not a fan of red meat, I chose chicken. Agedashi tofu was pretty good just like the one that I had at the original Gombei. My wife's saba was also pretty good (as per her comment). One plus, though, is that they accept all major credit cards unlike "cash-only" original Gombei. Also, since it is in a strip mall, there are plenty of parking. Oh, so make it *two* pluses, instead. The service was very attentive, quick and friendly like the original. Also, good values all across the menu. So, it is a solid 4-star (maybe 3.5-star) restaurant. All in all, I still prefer the original Gombei to this second location. But, I think that this Gombei is going to be our alternate restaurant when we are not in the mood to get queued up for our table at Orenchi.

    (4)

  • Jang David K.

    for the price i'm paying, this is one of my fav. lunch spots when i crave sushi. Amazing green tea and excellent chirashi sushi. Their sushi is sometimes fresh and i'm not gonna lie, though i wasn't too impressed with their pork cutlet curry, everything else is pretty fantastic. I rarely get the beef teriyaki but this place has the best beef teriyaki that i've had. You can actually get it medium rare....since when did anyone ask how you wanted the beef??? this is so crazy. try to come 11:30-12ish....if u come after 12, you will be waiting. it gets packed even on weekdays. finally, i found a sushi joint that i don't need to shell out $40 bucks to satisfy my sushi cravings. their service is quick and to the point. i looove the fact that i could sit on the counter and consume unlimited wassabi and ginger. i hate it when i have to wait for wassabi and ginger when i run out....and plus, i consume like a pound of ginger per meal. I don't feel bad here because there is a bucket full of ginger in front of the counter....muHAHAHAH....this is all the fatties' dream.

    (4)

  • Kimberly W.

    Summary- Gombei's lunch bento specials are just the trick for a weekday meal. The food is good, the restaurant is clean, and as long as you don't mind waiting a little bit you'll have a good meal. Food- The sushi here is great. Their dragon rolls are my family's favorite, and we get them every time. Their sushi ingredients are always very fresh, and I've never complained. For their teriyaki dishes, their chicken is very tender--not dry at all. Their pork tonkatsu is also very good (although, in truth, I think I prefer the Tonkatsu at Mitsuwa's food court in San Jose -- their sauce is ridiculously delicious); the pork is pretty juicy. The only 'weak' item on their menu, I've found, is the fried shrimp/calamari dish. It's basically just kind of chewy shrimp cooked in Panko bread crumbs--not really anything to call home about. Also, this restaurant does not carry a tempura rice dish, which I always find disappointing. However, they do have a tempura udon dish! The tempura is very good, although I'd have to say the best tempura I've had was in Sozo Sushi in Pleasanton. The appetizer salad is super fresh, and the dressing is something delightful. Staff- The people here are very friendly and efficient, and they do their best to get the crowds of people seated on a busy day. They're very quick to help. I've never had a negative experience here. Store- It's a nice big place, and it sits right next to a Korean supermarket and convenience store. It's nice to walk around there if you want to kill some time while waiting for a table. The restaurant is very clean.

    (4)

  • S R.

    1) Ordered 3 dishes for 3 people and only two came out. The waiter swore we ordered only 2 dishes, even though each one of us spoke to him while he took our orders. Anyway, by the time the third person got her dish, the other two were done with theirs. 2) Had to flag down the waiter to refill our teas and when he finally came by, he refilled only two cups and walked away. I really think he thought there were only two people sitting at our table..... 3) The udon dish had spaghetti noodles... how do make a udon soup without udon noodles?? do they really believe all noodles are the same? The only positive thing I could say about this place was that the sushi was fresh and very good. Will not be going back again.

    (1)

  • Hiroshi U.

    Gombei on Homestead has the most delicous Katsu curry among the Gombei restaurants in South bay. I usually get the Chicken Katsu curry.

    (4)

  • Cindy W.

    So I was starving and unwilling to wait for a seat in another Japanese restaurant so opted for Gombei. I was lured in by the rotating sushi. I mean, talk about instant gratification. I was supposed to stick with the menu since no seats were available by the bar, but the colorful display of fish and mysterious rolls kept calling to me so I couldn't resist diving in for a few plates of creamy california rolls, futomaki, soy paper wrapped hamachi, unagi avocado, and inari pockets. nothing was amazing. pretty standard stuff, but i am always curious and hopeful that the next plate might reveal something more interesting. the "main" meal was the sashimi combo dinner which comes with miso soup, and rice. The sashimi was a mix of sake/salmon, hamachi/yellow tail, saba/ mackerel, and maguro/tuna. Very standard but the cuts of fish were thick and you get about 3 or 4 per type of fish. Overall at about $40, it was all right. No wait. That was key.

    (2)

  • Janice C.

    Came by here the other night with my family for dinner. We ordered the Chicken Katsu Curry, Beef Teriyaki & Fried Tofu Combo, and Kitsune Udon. Curry - Since we came here for dinner, the curry was not on the dinner menu. It is only on the lunch menu (which they provided after I asked about it). The curry was flavorful and the sauce was thick. However, there weren't that many pieces of chicken nor was the chicken particularly memorable. There was ALOT of curry sauce provided however, but not a lot of rice. Combo - The beef teriyaki was so-so, the tofu was tasty. I believe there are 4 pieces of tofu that come with the combo. Udon - The udon was a bit salty and the noodles were thinner than expected (they aren't the thick udon noodles). Service - The waiters here are pretty friendly but a bit slow. We came around 8:30pm when there wasn't that many people around and it still took a while for them to take our order and bring us our check.

    (3)

  • Jasmine P.

    With a line outside the door... I'm confused at how this place doesn't have five stars! "Average and Boring" is what Betty N called this place... and well she's right to an extent. The food was indeed "typical" for the most part, but I loved that the restaurant perfected the basics. Bento Box, Tampura, and Sushi... pretty straight forward... pretty "typical". For 5 stars, I suppose some extra pizazz would be nice. The basics include: Speedy seating, great table time, perfect temperature food ( I hate ordering Beef Teriyaki and having it be cold on bite #2), clean venue, and awesomely clean bathroom (though cramped and small) Although the line stretched out onto the street; the hostess/waitress stepped outside asking for smaller groups, and rather than waiting 10+minutes, we waited about 3 before being seated. Awesome! Oh and the potato croquettes were amazing!!!! A must have with every meal here!

    (4)

  • Schelly Y.

    Nothing too exciting here but it does the trick when you need a Japanese food fix. I actually only end up here when Orenchi across the street is too crazy. Everything here is ordinary/standard. Fish is fresh but I came here once and it look like someone mangled my sashimi...

    (3)

  • Mercy B.

    After reading Chris E.'s review about the new Gombei restaurant location, I was so excited to learn that one of my favorite Japanese restaurants had opened closer to my neighborhood. So very cool - so we decided to see if they compared to their sister restaurants located in Japan Town in San Jose and Menlo Park. Gombei replaced what was once Sushi-Go-Round. This is the only Gombei location that has a sushi bar. The menu isn't as extensive as the other locations and there are no "specials of the day" posted on a white board as at the other locations. They do have the usual beef and chicken teriyaki dishes along with their wonderfully delicious miso soup and agedashi tofu. I think that they're still trying to get their routine down as it took a while for S's dinner to be delivered. I had just about had my fill of sushi by the time S's meal arrived. We had to ask for the check several times before it came. Plus about this place is that they accept credit cards - the other locations are cash only. They've only been open less than a week so we'll return at a later time. I'll probably give them a higher star rating after a few visits. They'll probably get their rhythm down and I'm sure that service will improve. We're still happy that they've opened this new location as we won't have to travel to downtown San Jose to get my Japanese food fix.

    (3)

  • Henry L.

    Copious amount of decent Japanese food at a low price? Sign me up! I've been here for both lunch and dinner. The location is also conveniently close by the office so if we were in a crunch, we can always come here. Of course, the downside of this place is everybody else comes here too. We arrived well into the lunch hour one day to find Gombei had a twenty minute wait! Sadness. We had to go find lunch elsewhere. I think I prefer lunch over their dinner menu. The sushi is available all day. The biggest weakness (for me anyway) in the dinner menu is the lack of curry rice. I heart curry big time and they only have that at lunch. Dinner is just the combination sushi/sashimi, teriyaki, tempura, various dons and udons. Mix match and you'll get the menu. Bottom line: it's not the best Japanese restaurant I've ever been to. But it certainly is one of the best values I've found.

    (5)

  • Loan N.

    First time eating at this location. I preferred the downtown San Jose location. Stood outside to wait for about 30 minutes on a Friday night with a bunch of girl friends. A couple of us were starving by the time we were seated. I recommend getting there before 6pm or after 8pm. A couple of us ordered the combo dinner plate while the rest ordered sushi rolls. I ordered the beef teriyaki-medium with tuna sashimi. The plate came with miso soup and salad. I was satisfied with the portion and taste. I also tried some of the unagi don. It was delicious. I thought they were very generous with 3 huge piece of unagi. My friend was unable to finish it. Although I didn't try the sushi rolls, but the portion is a bit big but priced well a couple of pieces for a couple of dollars-very convenient for those who wants to try all the rolls but can't finish the typical 8 piece rolls at other sushi restaurant. Overall, good place, good food and definitely bring good company ^_^.

    (3)

  • Joy A.

    I was a bit hesitant in trying this place since I have had food from a different Gombei and it was a TOTAL bust. However, I am so glad that we ate here! Had the sashimi and the portion was generous, fresh and actually filling! Completely surprised and happy with my lunch! We came just before noon and beat the rush! We were seated quickly and service was pretty good. No complaints.

    (4)

  • K. A. R. G.

    Ok, I'd come back for the teriyaki beef or chicken lunch deal. That was pretty good. I'd also come back for the California roll or any other roll that doesn't have raw fish. Those are pretty good. But their sashimi is less than totally fresh. Tastes and smells pretty fishy, and that's not ok. The price is what will make me come back.

    (3)

  • Roger T.

    The good things about this place is its quick, decent quality, and service is very attentive and isn't too busy or wait time. The problems with this Japanese restaurant is the beef terriyaki. The meat quality is not very high and is dosed in sauce. I would recommended ordering the pork katsu or a fish meal if you aren't a sushi lover. Prices are very low for a Japanese restaurant, so if you are coming with a large group or love to try out new sushis, hit this place up

    (3)

  • Ritchie A.

    Gombei has rewritten the rulebook on beef teriyaki. You know that shrivelled up overcooked and oversauced mess that put you off of it at other restaurants? None of that here. Instead, they ask how you want the meat cooked, which I'd never been asked before for this dish. The beef is tender and lightly seasoned, and in the combo dinner with tuna sashimi, is kind of the best thing ever. I only wish that particular combo featured more of their home-made tofu, which is also fantastic. If I ever order beef teriyaki at another restaurant and the server doesn't follow up with a "and how would you like that cooked," I'll quickly change my order to a fish-only meal and plan my next trip to Gombei.

    (4)

  • Rainbow T.

    We have often come to this place and are always happy with the foods and their service. Our favorite order is California rolls and miso soup.

    (4)

  • MJ C.

    I was craving sushi one night and my co-worker took me to this place, which is located across my work. The sushi here is A-OK. It definitely only deserves 3 stars. The menu has a limited variety rolls. Actually, many of their rolls are simple rolls. I don't even think they have a menu for special rolls. My co-worker and I sat at the sushi bar. The conveyor belt had a limited selection as well. It probably had about 5 different rolls from the menu circling the sushi bar over and over again. But, each sushi dish was covered with a plastic cover, so that was a plus =) Prices ARE cheap. My bill came up to $10 for 3 rolls of sushi and edamame.

    (3)

  • Allen T.

    this joint is pretty good. The sushi is very affordable and pretty tasty. Usually, I get the beef teriyaki here..its pretty damn good. They have a fairly big sushi bar but the variety isn't great. I don't think they do the rolls here either as I asked for a salmon skin handroll and was rejected by the sushi chef as if I was Acie Law driving down the lane vs Josh Smith. Overall this place is pretty cool, especially for families.

    (3)

  • Mary M.

    This location is very convenient from work. Came here during lunch and the wait sucks. We waited maybe 10 mins for 2 people. The food kind of makes it up. I ordered the Chicken teriyaki with fried calamari combo. For $8 its a good price. Although the calamari I thought in my head would be rings.. they actually look like calamari sticks with tartar sauce over it. The food came pretty fast. And the servers would come by to refill our water

    (4)

  • Alice L.

    Review is on Lunch only. My BF and I wanted something yummy for lunch on a Friday and decided to give Gombei a try since he liked the other ones in the South Bay. Unfortunately this one didn't quite carry the same quality as the others. We were seated pretty prompted considering how busy it was at lunch and was ready to order after sitting down. The waitress was waiting on tables all over the restaurant so it took her awhile to get to our table. We ordered the Beef Yakiniku Lunch special ($9.50) and the Chicken Cutlet don ($7.75). Since we were soooo hungry, we decided to order a plate of sushi to share to curb our appetite until our meal came. We figured that since the sushi was on a conveyer belt that it would be faster. Nope, not the case. It didnt come until we were halfway done with our meal. The quality of the fish wasn't fresh and the cutting skills were rather poor. In addition, the rice to fish ratio was really off. They gave us double the amount of rice as normal sushi. My BF enjoyed his Yakiniku but the portion was a bit small and it was a little overcooked. My Chicken Don was good, portion size was huge, however, it was too salty. Overall, I dont think i'd return because the quality wasn't up to par. I guess i should have known considering the first thing i noticed was the rotating sushi bar.. tsk tsk.

    (2)

  • Jin K.

    Okay... WHERE TO EVEN BEGIN... HMm lol ok here it goes, hear me spit my hater flow on yelp! Let me start off by the horrible seating arrangements wit the big sushi boat thing in the middle... I think they do that to literally make u sit there cus if u want a table, it's crap! So then u end up eating a mini $4 plate of 4 pieces of california rolls... CALIFORNIA ROLLS... Wtf? Plus our table was so darn squeaky, I had a couple urges to break the damn thing wit a big Hulk Smash! :O Secondly, whatsup wit a sushi place, wit no special menu of sushi rolls? We can only order from the overpriced sushi boat! So we ordered 1 salmon roll and 1 tuna roll.. The pieces were small enough to fit in my nostrils, pick em and flick em, they were so dam tiny!!! WTH!! U KIDDING?! Okay and the waiter... I think it's his first time doing that job.. Not to hate on him, but he just made it awkward, interrupting our conversations. Yes he was nice, polite, but it was just uncomfortable. Plus they started switching off waiters like 1 wasnt enough for a table... o.O" I really felt bad for the hostess tho. Besides the fact she kept staring at me and my man boobies, she was a good lookin azn chick, workin wit all the dudes n sushi chefs jus lookin at her everytime she walks by in those furry ugg boots n ripped up jeans lol... Seriously dont the staff have uniforms or something??? I ordered a beef plate wit pork katsu... Can they really even mess up here?!?!?!? The beef was so tough, I swear it was like I was chewing beef flavored GUM... And the katsu was soft when it's supposed to be crispay??? Wuuuut?? My goodness.. Even the tempura sauce was sour, not sweet... DUDE I'D RATHER HAVE GONE TO L&L HAWAIIAN BBQ ACROSS THE STREET... They have hella better katsu man... So the gf ordered Udon.... DUde it tasted like cardboard... She made it taste better wit the season salt that the gave her... Even wit that, it tasted like spicy cardboard... And her tempura was soggy, soft, and stale... Tempura SAUCE was tasteless and oily... Omg can this get any more worse??? Dude okay let me break this down for u here... The BEST thing about this place (which means what they have right) is the RICE, SOY SAUCE, and WASABI.... Dude I could put those together, add sum of my gum-like beef, and make sum beef sushi and I would get more customer satisfaction than this darn place man lol. Seriously I think this is the first time my digestive system screamed at me and demanded the food out of my body. I got full from nothing, just bland food lol. I'm serioulsy not the type to hate on something like this. I seriously had high hopes for this place, cus I heard the san jose one is bOmb... What a disappointment! If they want beef wit me, my beef is a lot more edible than theirs LoL... Only postive experience I see from this is one phrase and one phrase only.... TRIAL AND ERROR!!! Thanks everyone :)

    (1)

  • Jordan H.

    The sushi chef is a veteran. When I visit, I know what I want, and they know how to make it! Unique from the other 2 Gombei's, this one has daily fresh fish that is served with perfection. On days when the sushi bar isn't too busy I usually try to take the chef's suggestions. In addition to the sashimi, I can't stop raving about their beef teriyaki or beef yakiniku. The cuts taste like a rib-eye, but that may be only from the specials menu.

    (5)

  • Zinc O.

    Watching all the beautiful food roll by on the conveyor belt is what makes this restaurant so much fun. I have yet to bring my kids here, but I saw many other kids around with their families. They seemed to enjoy the place too. I recommend ordering the Echigo beer as it pairs well with the food.

    (5)

  • hernan s.

    I propose this restaurant to be named "DEJA VU SUSHI" It's just incredible how badly organized this place is. Here is my experience in my last 3 visits in a span of 3 months: --------1st visit: I sat down in the sushi bar. Since there was no soy sauce or wasabi I had to grab them from other places. Waited for ordering soda for about 15 minutes. Nobody showed up even though the place was not too crowded. Decided to leave. The end for 1st visit. --------2nd visit: Waited only 3 minutes to order drinks Waitress: Hello sir. Would you like something to drink? Me: Yes, I would have a diet coke no ice. 5 minutes later Waitress: Hello sir. Would you like something to drink? Me: I already ordered my drink. But I will have a diet coke no ice *The drink came in after asking for it twice Waitress: What woud you like to order Me: I'll have BEEF TERIYAKI & PORK CUTLET 10 minutes later Waitress: Would you like anything to order? Me: Yes, I already ordered a dish? Why do you keep asking twice for the same thing? I'll have BEEF TERIYAKI & PORK CUTLET Eventually I got my order. ------3rd visit: This time the place was about 60 percent full. As usual, I had to grab the spices from other places by myself. Waitress 1: Hello sir. Woud you like something to drink? Me: Yes, I would have a diet coke no ice. 5' minutes later Different waiter 2: Hello sir. Would you like something to drink? (deja vu!!) Me: Why do I have to always tell you twice what I want? I already ordered a drink. Just make sure I get the drink I ordered (notice that I didn't repeat my order). waiter 2: Sure, I just want to make sure.. what drink did you order? Me: Why do I need to repeat myself if I already ordered a drink? Waiter 1 interjects: Don't worry I will get you the drink you asked.. ---conclusion. Waitress 1 took an order knowing she will not complete it----- 5 minutes later Waiter 2: Here is the soda you asked Me: The coke I asked was "no ice" Waiter 2: No worries. I will fix that. Would you like something from the kitchen? Me: NO WAY 10 minutes later: Waiter 1: Woud you like a refill? Me: No thanks 20 seconds later: Waiter 2: would you like a refill? Me: No thanks 20 seconds later: Store manager: Woud you like a refill? Me: No thanks At the end of the visit I paid with ZERO tip and explained to the store manager why I decided to give them no tip. The store manager just said "don't worry about it." He wasn't interested in the details. ----------Overall Conclusion--------------- I hate myself for saying this, but maybe in 45 days or so I may come back to this place. Simply because I live 2 blocks away and this is the closest sushi spot. But the lack of team work in this place is brutal. I would say that to get to this level of disfunction they must hate each other at Gombei. The food at Gombei is somehow below average. It's the bare minimum quality of sushi I would eat. The rice in their sushi is often dry and their creativity is underwhelming (they offer finger sausages, tofu with a spoon, and cold chicken wings in their sushi bar)

    (2)

  • Rebecca H.

    We ordered a variety of sushi rolls and other bento combinations. The service was fast even though the restaurant was full and the prices reasonable. The Hawaiian Ahi poke tasted like it had been frozen, but it wasn't bad. I enjoyed the soft shell crab roll and the dragon roll. I also tried the calamari which was tender and tasty.

    (3)

  • Elaine Y.

    Just went to Gombei with my kids this week - to celebrate my daughter's last day of school - her pick... I personally LOVE Gombei - their beef teriiyaki is the BEST and I love the fact that it's NOT OVERLY sweet or salty... and they cook the beef to the way you like it - which in my case is medium rare. Their "special Unari" is so addicting... Unari with crab meat on top - I'm drooling just thinking about it. Their tempura is the best - very light - I'm into light flavors not an all out attack on my taste buds so Gombei is perfect for me. And you get a lot for you money - I just wish they had specials like the one in San Jose - but other than that... it's great comfort food for me. AND for dinner - even if the curry isn't on the menu - you can always ask and they will always serve it! Am going back tonight with friends and can't wait - am looking forward to great food with great friends!

    (4)

  • Jade R.

    This place is pretty good! I mean, its definitely nothing out of the ordinary, and its my silver medal place to go for Japanese food, but its not terrible. I guess the service isn't that great- the waiters seem very disinterested in their jobs lol. And when it gets hectic, the wait for your food gets pretty long. I got impatient when I was there and started grabbing some food off the kaiten (boat thing) haha There are a million other Japanese restaurants in the south bay that are better than this place, but for me, its in a convenient location and not closed the sunday before MLK day (seriously?! Every Japanese place I wanted to go to was closed! WHYYYYY). :P

    (3)

  • Marisa S.

    It's a OK place, nice Sushi bar (I like) The sushi is not the best it's a little dry and does not have the yummy sauce like other places. But it's ok. The staff is friendly and go get a Soup when (like always) Orenchi is full.

    (3)

  • Melissa S.

    I give this place 2 stars based on the food that I ordered. I ordered a Dragon Roll and a Spider Roll. The dragon rolls taste pretty good, but I've had better...and from what I know, usually dragon rolls come in a long roll of 6 rolls but the ones here come with only 4 rolls, I figured that's why it's so cheap. Moving on, the spider roll was disappointing. I don't get why they place picked cucumber and carrot in the roll...The flavors don't quite fit with the soft shell crab. The crab was so soft and there's no crunch to it and it was kind of bitter...hmmmm BUT! I would have given this place a 3.5 or possibly even 4 stars if I had had what my friends ordered. They had the grilled hamachi shioyaki - that looked great and my other friend had the beef (I think...) and salmon teriyaki. According to my friend (she's Japanese), the teriyaki sauce is just like the ones they get in Japan. So next time I come, I'd be sure to order their set menu instead of the sushi/rolls.

    (2)

  • Chris E.

    Ever since they put up that sign, I've been waiting to go. The menu is not quite the same as the SJ or Menlo Park locations, but close. They also have the conveyor belt sushi ("kaiten-zushi") taking up most of the floor. Currently only 6 tables (4 people each), but room for more along the wallls. This place is a bit more "cleaned up" (not always a good thing) -- see the pictures. All in all, good comfort food and I always get a kick out of the Nisei/Sansei-loco-moco-types in there with their HIC shirts, slippers and pidgin. Reminds me of home. The manager was nice enough to let me come in a little before opening and take some shots. Looks like yelp.com doesn't support a high enough resolution for folks to see the menus (which he was cool with me taking pictures of). I've posted them here: flickr.com/photos/emura/… (just click the "all sizes" icon and go for the largest size).

    (5)

  • Stephanie T.

    I came here around 5 and it was not packed but not empty. We got seated quickly. The staff was nice. Some of the guys working kind of stared at me really awkwardly though. That was really awkward when I was eating. Anyways, the sushi was good. Nothing extravagant about what they make, but it satisfies you. We ordered the tofu also, I forgot what it was called, but it was good. I'd give it 4 stars but I'm not a fan just yet. The price was affordable, which is a plus, but the sushi was not AMAZING. I've had better.

    (3)

  • Dean S.

    Gotta give it up for Gombei. I used to go to the one in Japan town a lot cuz it was close to my church(Wesley). Thankfully they opened one closer to the Cupertino area. This place is really good for the prices. And the food is above average! You can spend $15 here and leave here totally stuffed. The amount of food they give you is really good, just like Tomi Sushi. Now their sushi/sashimi is just OK compared to other expensive restaurants, but hey what can you expect for dirt cheap prices. The prices are comparable to Ariake... but it tastes better in my opinion. I am not sure if this location tastes as good as the Gombei in Japantown, but then again I haven't been to the one downtown in like 10 years. My favorite dishes are tempura udon, katsudon donburi, sukiyaki, and croquettes(the croquettes are soo good, except they only serve them at the Japantown location). I almost never get bento boxes, it's what we ordered when we were in high school, and at other places you can't expect it to taste that great. But indeed, Gombei's bento boxes are better than average and they give a lot of food. The atmosphere is nice for what you pay for. It is a newer restaurant since it only opened a few years ago. Service is good, no complaints!

    (4)

  • Stephen L.

    From the youngest memories, I remember this local establishment to produce a consistently "bomb-ass!!!" Japanese traditional-style bento-box dinners. The combination dinner is priced reasonably for a cornucopia of customary dishes... So delicious at times, I find myself licking the "Yaku-Neko" beef sauce from my empty plate even after I fully indulged upon the meal itself. The service is impeccable - always had my tea or water refilled without even inquiring - the slice of orange provided next to salad has always been the sweetest slice. For the most part, the meal is flawless; satisfaction guaranteed :~P. P.S.- The "the vibes" of the establishment transports & transfixes patronages to a homely yet simplistic ambience.

    (4)

  • RandyCP U.

    A really good local Japanese restaurant. I went with 4 work friends. I ordered Katsu curry, a pork cutlet over Japanese curry. It was just like in Japan, which is what I thought I wanted. It was huge (too much even for me; I took 1/2 home) and had lots of red pickled daikon. But I immediately had plate-envy for everybody else's food when theirs came. Why can't we all share?? In the end, everybody was happy with their food. The service was fine. We got there a little late (11:45) and the line went out the door. We had to wait about 20 minutes, which seems an eternity while we watched those seated get their food. To summarize, a great traditional selection, and everything looked good and fresh. I wish it was closer to work. I would eat here every week. And get there early.

    (4)

  • Jerry L.

    2.5 stars. I've been here twice with extended family and unfortunately, both times, the food has been a bit of a letdown. I know there are a lot of metrics you can evaluate Japanese restaurants by, but as a starch-loving Asian, it all starts with the rice for me. If the rice isn't nice, it's tough for the rest of the meal to make up for it. Both the sushi rice and the rice served on the side of the donburi/bento/curries at Gombei seemed overcooked, unnecessarily mushy and just a bit off. Even though there were a few bright spots on our table - my dad's yellowtail sashimi was pretty decent in terms of both size of cut and quality - the unfortunate rice really tainted the rest of the meal. As for the remainder of the food, the chicken terriyaki seemed to have been boiled and then microwaved instead of grilled and the sauce itself was pretty banal. The flavor of the curry in the curry rice with chicken cutlet (one of my favorite Asian comfort foods) was nothing special and the cutlet was a bit soggy by the time it arrived at our table. The spicy scallop roll was the strangest of all - completely dry with some type of pepper flakes and...imitation scallop? I was really not a fan. The only noteworthy dish was the Chirashi sushi for $12.75 with soup and salad (a good value), but again, the subpar rice reared it's ugly head. I've never had an issue with the service at Gombei, but given all the tastier Japanese restaurants in the Bay Area, I won't be going out of my way to come back.

    (2)

  • Darren L.

    If you're with a small group, try getting the table that connects to the sushi boat...that way you can pick up a sushi boat if you see something good float by you. I've been to the other Gombei location which was okay so I thought this location would be the same....not what I expected. The sushi was fresh, the tonkatsu was just as good.....what got me was the tobiko here....sooo good! You should expect to wait for a table...though the space is big, there aren't that many tables in there if you have a big group.

    (4)

  • Sharon Z.

    Very fresh food!

    (4)

  • Ed E.

    After an afternoon of wine tasting in the south Santa Clara Valley, we stopped at Gombei for an early dinner. The restaurant has about a dozen tables arranged around the central sush bar. There is a conveyor belt that carries the dishes around the bar. Each dish has a colored rim that denotes the price and is covered with a clear plastic dome. The dome increases shelf life of the dish. We tried chicken katsu and beef teriyaki as well as several sushi items. The chicken was of dark and light meat and was crisply fried in a tasty batter. The beef was done perfectly to order. Their su rice is well flavored and the fish in our tuna, octopus, yellow tail, and shrimp nigiri was fresh. But the five stars were earned by their kakiage. This is a dish that is never on Japanese restaurant menus in America (but should be). It is a melange of scallops, onion, shredded carrots, etc. lightly dipped in tempura batter then deep fried into a pancake shape. We usually ask for it off-menu. Some restaurants will make it for us and some do not because it takes time and skill to prepare. When we asked at Gombei for kakiyage, our server said, "Sorry, no kakiyage." We politely expressed our disappointment. A few minutes later, one of the sushi chefs, an older Japanese man, came over to us and said quietly, "I can make kakiyage for you." YAY! We placed TWO orders for kakiyage. When it arrived our eyes almost popped out! Each order was two huge patties about six inches across by two inches thick. Each was perfectly golden brown with crisp crust and succulent shredded onion, carrots, and seafood. Other restaurants serve kakiyage that is half as large. Plus, Gombei's chef put chopped shrimp, scallops, and squid in our special order, which is as deluxe as it gets! If you are looking for good Japanese food, excellent service, and -- if they are not too busy -- delicious kakiage, give Gombei a try.

    (5)

  • Elaine C.

    Came here on a few occasions, usually because my stomach will start to give me contracting hunger pains from the long wait at orenchi. This Gombei is not that great... the one in downtown SJ is way better. However, unlike the downtown SJ on, this one has sushi! +1 star! The fish isn't all that fresh, but still sushi! I normally get the chicken udon because by this time (from waiting for orenchi), I'm already craving a bowl of noodles. Their combo platters are huge! Lots and lots of food. Usually, take home boxers are needed :) Overall, I wouldn't go to this location personally, I do occasionally visit the downtown SJ one. I only come here to cure my hunger pains from not being able to wait any longer at orenchi.

    (3)

  • Naruto G.

    Love this place so much. Beef yakiniku (not teriyaki) medium rare is my favorite. The servers mostly are mexican but they are really friendly. They were trained by Japanese people. Good food, good price, good tummy, good location and good parking.

    (5)

  • Cal K.

    No Bento box in a Japanese restaurant!? Okay, I don't really need a Bento box, but I was very surprised to see that there is a lack of sushi served for lunch. I ended up getting a Teriyaki chicken rice plate. The chicken wasn't very good, the portions were small and the salad was drenched in dressing. Not a fan of this place at all, especially that it seems a lot more expensive than other Japanese restaurants. I would recommend going elsewhere for lunch if you are craving sushi.

    (2)

  • Lina L.

    The secret is out...Gombei has great Japanese food at super prices. It's almost worth the drive out here...the place was recommended by a friend nearby. My first taste, I had udon with tempura. It was really delicious. Almost homemade-style but with good size portions. I was not left hungry...I also tried sushi rolls with a spicy sauce. Mmmm.... Interestingly, they have a sushi bar with a rotating counter with plates where you can pick up ones you see that you like. Usually, different plates have different prices... I actually wanted to try their lunch box special and I got the tonkatsu. It can be hard to find good tonkatsu. Theirs was good and they gave me probably enough to eat for lunch and dinner. I called in my order and was able to pick it up in 10-15 min. They were busy during lunch and the place was pretty full. But the service was prompt and courteous. I would be a regular if I lived any closer...

    (3)

  • Christina B.

    I'm not a huge fan of sushi boats since it can be...well....gross sometimes. But this is the best one around. And their Karaage and other items are wickedly delicious. My only issue came up the last time I was there and ordered Udon. Not really udon noodles but it was still good, just shouldn't be labeled udon.

    (4)

  • Tina R.

    Wanting to support our local restaurants, my husband and I finally tried this place out hoping to find another good sushi joint. The people are SUPER friendly and everyone is always asking if everything is ok. We lied and said yes. :/ Primarily, my suggestion is don't get the sushi that's traveling around the conveyor belt. Order anything/everything freshly made. The food we got off the belt was really not cool/fresh or for that matter, tasty. It all had a weird peppery/lemony taste that was soooo not good. However, the freshly made sushi we ordered was fine. Not the best, but it was ok. It was certainly the cheapest sushi dinner we've paid for in a long time. I'm not sure I'd go back since we have a couple of favorite sushi places we frequent that are far superior, but that being said, they offer WAY more than just sushi (we didnt try any of that), the staff are caring and friendly, the place is clean, and as long as you order fresh, it's a relatively inexpensive meal. (I gave them a full 3 stars just because I thought it was unfair to give them a bad rating if we didn't try their non-sushi food items).

    (3)

  • Darryl P.

    Overall, the sushi here is not too bad! The nigiri was pretty fresh! The rolls were just okay though. A friend of mines and I were seated at the bar which was neat because they had a conveyer belt with sushi. I guess you can say it's like a sushi boat restaurant. It's a little more sanitary though because there isn't water in it and the food was covered. We got about 11 small dishes of nigiri and rolls ranging anywhere from $2-$4 which is a pretty good deal for sushi! We also got some flan that was on the conveyer as well, for dessert. I almost forgot to mention that we had a small carafe of cold unfiltered sake to go with our food! It was pretty good stuff! It was an interesting experience! This happens to be one of her favorite sushi places.

    (3)

  • Joanna F.

    The restaurant should hire someone with more experience to be the cashier and the receptionist. There were a lot of empty tables and customers waiting. Both of them were just trying to do the same task together instead of divide and conquer. The sushi is below average. The rice is too dry. The fish is not the freshest. However it's a full house on a Friday night.

    (2)

  • J S.

    Gombei is a great little Japanese restaurant located at Lawrence and Homestead. My co-workers and I have gone there on several occasions for a quick lunch that's a bit different than what you can usually get around the area. Based on my experience with the food there I'm pretty happy. It's not going to win any awards for originality but that's alright. It eats and I've never been disappointed. The restaurant itself is nice on the inside and the seats are comfortable. The location however is in one of those horrible 1970's strip malls that lacks any sort of character and besides a Starbucks, has nothing else in it that would really draw people in. There are a number of other business's in the strip mall, mostly Asian shops and a few others of varying quality. So if you are in the area, give it a try. Prices are great, service is quick and selection is decent.

    (4)

  • Anne P.

    In my opinion, the perfect chirashi would contain the following ingredients: *multiple slices of sake, hamachi, saba, hotate, maguro, unagi, amaebi, tamago, white tuna *ikura (salmon roe) *slices of sweeten braised shiitake mushroom *pickled radish or daikon *seaweed salad (optional) This restaurant's chirashi had the following pros and cons, relative to my notion of the perfect chirashi: Pros: For the price ($11.00), Gombei's chirashi was surprisingly good in terms of variety. The chirash I got, with no tako, had maguro, hamachi, sake, saba, unagi, ebi, white tuna and tamago (a bit on the sweet side, but it was still good) Cons: what's missing? hotate, amaebi, wakame salad, daikons and mushrooms, and ikura This Gombei is owned by the same people as the two other Gombei restaurants, but unlike the others, this one has sushi...it had a sushi boat, which I'll have to check out next time and there was also a lot of sushi on the menu. The other Gombei locations only offered maguro sashimi. Unfortunately, this Gombei does not have my favorite dish, nimono, but I'm glad it had chirashi and that it was actually decent.

    (4)

  • C L.

    Delicious =] Friendly, attentive staff, beautifully-crafted (and tasty!) sushi, and you get a lot of bang for your buck. A great place to go after you just left Kasier haha

    (5)

  • Jermaine R.

    I was glad to find the katsu curry is on the lunch menu. It comes out in a huge bowl with plentiful helping of curry and rice, but not so much of the meat. The agedashi tofu and broth was tasty. Not as crispy as I like, but probably because I was so focused on my curry that it got soggy in the broth. I'm not really a fan of the sushi boat conveyor belt, so I stayed away from fish. But it's good to know another place to grab a bowl of Japanese curry.

    (3)

  • Steve K.

    Gombei is great. It's one of my favorite restaurants in the bay. Has everything I want. Good food, fresh fish, Japanese beer and sake, at a reasonable price. The staff is also very friendly. Nothing too extravagant, just a good Japanese restaurant that I go to all the time.

    (5)

  • Bertha T.

    A friend of mine seemed really happy with this place, so we went and visited. Boy were we disappointed. The drink I ordered was admittedly not especially Japanese -- a "Lychee Sake Martini" -- but ye gods was it ever awful! It was so intensely and overwhelmingly sweet, I couldn't even drink it. The miso soup was grainy from the potato they put in it. If that's your cup o' tea, great, but it sure as heck wasn't mine. The beef tongue came out cold. I'm not sure if this is intentional or not, but seein' as how it's grilled, I'll just mention that it did not come out nice and warm as I'd have expected. The cold tofu had a messy, mashy texture, not at all what I would have expected from silken tofu. The first piece of nigiri I tried was the uni. It was a lucky thing for me that I chew my food fastidiously. I found an inch-long urchin spine in my nigiri! I shudder to think what would have happened if I had just slurped down the uni without chewing it. When we informed the waiter, and asked for it to be taken off the bill, he argued with us and tried to make excuses about how it wasn't the restaurant's fault that their uni came with a chunk of spine that could have seriously injured me. I found this really offensive. I don't give two shakes of a rat's tail whose fault it was. The point is that it shouldn't be in my food, and the waiter shouldn't be making excuses about it. On the plus side, their fish were fresh and fairly tasty... though they had poor control of how much wasabi they put in each nigiri. One end of a piece of nigiri could be mild and sweet, and the other end blow your head off with only one whiff.

    (2)

  • Colin W.

    Gombei, with their giant, black and white sign facing Lawrence Expressway, is pretty difficult to miss. When you walk in the door, it's obvious that the sign works, too: every time I've visited for lunch, the tables and sushi bar have been overfull. If you're heading to Gombei with a big group, call ahead, and they'll try to save a couple tables for you. If you're interested in run-of-the-mill, cheap sushi, Gombei's sushi bar is the bee's knees. The items are tasty, relatively fresh, and, for 3-4 pieces, generally priced in the low-single-digits. For hot food, grab a table, and prepare to wait a while. Contrary to the sushi bar, the table service is exceedingly slow and not very personable. The hot dishes, like pork katsu and other inexpensive Japanese and Japanese-American favorites, are dry and fairly tasteless, and the salads have an unusually bitter dressing. If Gombei stuck with their sushi business, it would probably get four stars from me, but given my table dining experience there, I can't bring myself to give it any more than three.

    (3)

  • E W.

    I wish I could give 0 star on their sushi and sashimi. Worse sushi I had - they just picked from the sushi boat which it was so dry and smell. I went on a WED night around 8pm with 3 friends, this was my 2nd visit . my 1st visit everything is average so I brought my friend to try again surprisingly no line and only less than 20 customers in the whole restanurant. The sushi bar has got only 3 customers. We ordered Beef Terriyaki , pork cutlet, calamari salad + 2pieces each Sushi of Uni,Sweet Shrimp, Hamachi, Tuna, White Tuna, Salmon and Spicy Tuna Roll, Hamachi Roll . The cooked food was alright 3stars . All our sushi was NOT FRESH , dry and Hamachi was turning dark so terrible and that whole sushi was already over $50... anyway I wont go back again for any sushi Their Japan Town chain was much better.

    (1)

  • Stanley C.

    Great place for Japanese cheap eats, teriyakis and noodles. I wouldn't recommend the sushi here though but definitely have some tofu dishes. Very casual and comfortable. Friendly service as well.

    (4)

  • David E.

    Good food, cheap for sushi. Very nice wait staff and sushi chefs. What is not to like. My kids love it and the place is very accommodating for our kids as well. We don't go anywhere else.

    (4)

  • Arwen G.

    This has become a favorite go to restaurant for my co-workers and I recently. The sashimi is always fresh and of very good quality and like others have said the portions are generous. If you have more than 2 people, or don't want to sit at the sushi counter try to arrive right before 11:30 for lunch during the week. Even though there isn't that much seating the lighting and spacing make for a much more spacious and bright feeling than other Japanese restaurants in the area. Personal menu favorites are the chirashi sushi and sushi platter lunchtime options. The unagi don is terrific, but gigantic!

    (4)

  • Diana Y.

    Ehh, this place is whatever. Came here for lunch with my aunt, we sat at the sushi bar because I love the sushi conveyor belt thing. The prices are cheap but the selection isn't big. Maybe I went at a bad time (but I didn't think 12:30PM was bad at all) but I spent most of my time just sitting and watching the same pieces of sushi go by over and over again. The chefs were polite but they didn't really interact with the customers. I wasn't expecting them to but I guess I was expecting a more friendly approach? Maybe it's just me. However, when I ordered tamago (egg sushi) they actually gave me more authentic sushi than your average place. So this is a plus. Other than that, ehhhhhhhhh no.

    (2)

  • Julia C.

    Jack, thanks for pointing this place out. Good thing we got there relatively early. This place got busy! Huge portions. My unagi don was enormous. I didn't eat my miso or the salad. The sushi was ok - I think this is definitely more of a cooked food place.

    (3)

  • Adrienne N.

    I have been here twice now and LOVE it! They make their own tofu and you can tell, it's fresh and delish. You get a LOT of food for very little money. My boss and I ate here for lunch for under $20 bucks and I couldn't finish my food. I ordered the chicken teriyaki and we sat at the sushi bar where we had a few plates of that too. The tempura is really good, not too greasy. I think I'll try one of their huge bowls of soup next. The staff is very friendly and there is plenty of plenty of parking

    (4)

  • Thomas H.

    I was really excited to find out there is a revolving sushi bar around ~ sushi is okay, not great but not bad~ some of them are fresh some of them are not, inconsistent. The rice and seaweed used for sushi can also used some improvement~

    (3)

  • Elaine L.

    When I walked in, the delicious smell of Japanese food rushed over me and I was looking forward to the meal that awaited me. Sadly, I was disappointed. We had the agedashi tofu as an appetizer, and it was sour! I can understand if the sauce has sourness, but the tofu itself was sour, and it hit me immediately after the first bite. This has not happened with other agedashi tofu I've had. The squid salad was okay, but not spectacularly delicious. It's lightly battered squid with a few pieces of greens and onions in a slightly sour dressing. There aren't many sushi rolls to choose from, so I guess it's a less Americanized Japanese place. The rolls are small and neatly made, with decent flavor. We also had the sashimi mix, which was a platter with various types of fish. The slices are very thin and small, and some were kind of mushy and falling apart. Not what you want with sashimi. We also had the beef yakiniku and saba shioyaki. The beef was okay, pretty tender and juicy. The fish was kind of dry and bland. I think the part I liked more was the miso soup, which was different than the ones I usually have. It came steaming hot, and it had, in addition to tofu, some potatoes and tender onions. I thought it was quite flavorful and the different textures were enjoyable. The salad on the other hand was not the best. The dressing was very watery and flavorless. I would have preferred to have no dressing than have that dressing on it.

    (2)

  • Pamela L.

    Gombei has okay food. Not enough variety on the menu for the combination dinners - mostly chicken or beef teriayki + some random thing. The chicken kara-age was terribly bland and not very crisp. The udon noodles were flat and overcooked. The combination dinner I had also had underseasoned beef, along with a salmon sashimi with questionable texture but tasted ok. I sort of struggled between a 2 and 3 for this review. It wasn't *bad*, but wasn't great either... so I'm rounding up.

    (3)

  • Minji L.

    Bring o-toro back on weekdays, please!! =O Because it's so~ busy at this restaurant during weekends, I try to go on weekdays, like today. But lately, I've noticed that my fav o-toro sushi is unavailable during weekdays.

    (3)

  • Justin T.

    Gombei, you are dead to me. Never again. Tonight, you head a very meager selection on the sushi boats. In 45 minutes, nothing new was added. Some of the rolls were decent, but some of the nigiri was very questionable. Something had a very nasty, mushy taste. It was pretty vile and I had to spit it out. That left some carrot rolls that smelled pretty suspect. The service was terrible, and it was hard to flag someone down just to get the check. I don't know what the hell I was thinking when I thought this place was mediocre before. Even on its best days, they have a few decent sushi tempura rolls, but tonight was a disaster and I'm sure as hell not coming back. It's pretty disappointing when I walk away, realizing I would have been happier with grocery store sushi.

    (1)

  • Kara S.

    Best TonKatsu ever! It wasn't greasy or unidentifiable. It was juicy, tender, and crispy. Perfect! I was very surprised that I could swing in here on Father's Day and not encounter a huge wait. The service was fast, the sushi was fresh tasting ( even on a Sunday) and the price was right ( dinner for two with large sake came to $37) I'll definitely come to this place again.

    (4)

  • YO m.

    Reasonable, sufficient, casual Japanese restaurant. Menu is general, I mean not really authentic for me but food is fresh and tasty enough. When I want to eat sashimi dinner in my area, I usually go there. If you like raw fish without surprise(w), Gombei is good choice to go. People there are nice and friendly too. I wish if they were serving more blue fish sashimi....

    (5)

  • Monica C.

    Good size portions at reasonable prices with friendly service. I enjoy the beef and salmon teriyaki here because it is light sauce and always cooked just right, not dry or overcooked. The shrimp tempura udon comes with 3 shrimp and 4-5 vege tempuras on side so it doesn't get mushy. DH usually loves the katsu curry but not tonight because it tasted more like gravy than curry. If only looking for sushi/sashimi there are better places. i never get sushi/sashimi here because the quality is very average/sub par and freshness is hit or miss.

    (3)

  • Jared I.

    I like this Gombei, but not as much as the one in Japan town in San Jose. The biggest issue is the lack of specials. The teriyaki is good. I have had some sushi which is also good, but that winds up being a much more expensive meal. Definitely something to look forward to while sitting and waiting at Kaiser.

    (4)

  • Evelyn K.

    Had dinner with Donna Y and it's the first sushi place I've been to that didn't have the boats at the sushi bar. Sat at the sushi bar and it was convenient to see what was more tempting to try before it goes past you. I'm always a fan of unagi and loved their dessert. It had strawberries and a green tea like pound cake. Me and donna were wondering if it was strawberry season.

    (4)

  • Jen K.

    Fresh fish and delicious chicken teriyaki. Gets busy after 6pm especially on the weekends.

    (5)

  • Karen C.

    The cashier, waitress, and sushi chefs were laughing and talking to each other and were not paying attention to the customers at all. Also, the waitress served the appetizer after the main course. The sushi was not bad, but the udon was the worst in town. Is the taste of udon supposed to be sweet?? I don't think so. Despite the taste and quality of food, the servers at Gombei need to be trained!!

    (2)

  • Coco L.

    The Menlo park Gombei is better in terms of taste and menu offerings. average portion, and they gave my lunch to the next table who order after I did... The waiter apolgize for it..

    (3)

  • Tim W.

    I ordered the Hamachi & Salmon Teriyaki Combo. Tasty fresh fish. The Salmon was slightly overcooked. They have a variety of sushi selection that circles the bar. Their miso soap was excellent, filled with standard tofu and seaweed. Not salty like many other places. The order did take longer than I usual. But, good company filled the time.

    (4)

  • Melanie A.

    I came here with high hopes since I absolutely love the Gombei in San Jose Japantown and I also really like the Gombei in Menlo Park. However, I was disappointed that this location didn't compare to the other Gombei locations. Compared to the Gombei in Japantown, this location has a slightly different menu, with no specials. They also have a wide variety of sushi. The service was friendly, but much slower than the Gombei in Japantown. It seemed like it took forever for us to get our food. I ordered the vegetable and tofu udon, since it is something that I love at the other Gombei locations. It was ok, but just not as good, and now my stomach feels kind of weird. My husband ordered the chicken teriyaki and pork cutlet tonkatsu combo and was not impressed. I would recommend for the person/people who make the other Gombei locations so awesome to come to this new Gombei location and help them out with their food preparation and efficiency. I really think it has potential, but it is definitely not there yet.

    (3)

  • Mimi T.

    Fresh fish, no nasty water in the sushi boat, and friendly service. What more can you ask for? Gombei is not known for sushi rolls, but rather nigiri and sashimi. So for people who don't like raw fish, you may want to choose something off of the kitchen menu. I have not tried anything off the menu besides the miso soup, but I can say that the sashimi is really fresh and tasty. Extra stars for it being close to home and being clean. Minus a star for REALLY slow service when it comes to drinks.

    (4)

  • Christina L.

    A quick review for a quick visit. We sat at the sushi bar for a small dinner and I'm not sure I have anything absolutely riveting to write about Gombei. Just your usual merry-go-round sushi boat of floaty fish passing you by. The sushi conveyor belt seemed a bit well, empty. And it WAS dinner time. The staff was the very smiley, give you a nod every once in a while type. People around me seemed to be enjoying large combination plates and wished I could've tried those too.

    (3)

  • Mike H.

    Went here on a Saturday night after trying to get into Orenchi (which was crazy busy). Chicken and beef teriyaki were good. Sushi was pretty awful. This place may be better as a quick lunch.

    (2)

  • Jeannie H.

    Great price! Fresh and good nigiri's for sushi boats. Tempura udon is good. Staff is friendly and attentive. I think I am 93% satisfied with the food and service at this restaurant.

    (5)

  • sam s.

    This place was referred to this place by a customer. I sure do appreciate it because this place is good. Will come back for more.

    (5)

  • Greg B.

    Great Value. I've been here for lunch, they do a good job on the bento box. For dinner, I thought the sashimi sampler was tasty and was quite reasonably priced. Despite being located in an aging strip mall, I found the place to be modern, clean, and upbeat.

    (4)

  • Wailun Eugene W.

    Come here all the time and the food quality is always good, fresh raw fish and well cooked combo dinner boxes!!

    (5)

  • Yi-Fang T.

    This place is okay and for some reason I come back here every once in a while for lunch. The prices and quantity are decent though I would say their food is mediocre. Last time I went I sat at the sushi bar. They didn't keep the conveyor belt sushi bar stocked so the same 8 items kept coming around. The rolls on the plates were also cut too large, and were wrapped in way too much rice. We ordered the fried seafood plate and agedashi tofu, as well as ate off the bar. This place has the standard stuff - bentos, udons, rolls, and I would just say that it's just average. Comparable to Miyaki's but with more quantity.

    (3)

  • beno h.

    now that the homestead road, santa clara gombei has added the gombei chain's famous curry (katsucurry rice) onto their menu, i'm upgrading them to four stars. if i could give them 4.5, i would. yesterday, my wife and i went there for lunch. the hostess seated us at the sushi bar because the tables were all full. the only bad thing about that was that, while we were waiting for our ordered food (off the menu) were succumbed the temptation to grab three sushi plates off the conveyor belt. well, all were delicious. we had a unagi covered shrimp tempura roll (3 pieces for $4), a crab-salad stuffed inari - aka yooboo chobab - (2 pieces for $3), and a salmon covered shrimp tempura roll - i don't know why we took this one, which was so similar to the first, but it was also tasty - (3 pieces for $4). off the menu; my wife ordered the agedashi tofu (4 pieces for $3.50) and the hijiki seaweed salad (a huge serving for $4.50), and i ordered the curry rice with fried shrimp (a huge, huge portion with 3 or four jumbo shrimp for $7.75). let me tell you, it was a great deal and quite a bit of food. it was all very tasty. the curry rice was _very_ saucy. it also came with a big side salad. i'm glad i got some veggies. the service was _much_ better this time too, _very_ attentive. i like how the wasabi and gari are right at the sushi bar, so i didn't have to keep asking for more. dude, you don't know how much wasabi i eat with my sushi... more than you can imagine. a few times, especially when i was a kid, i got nosebleeds from eating too much wasabi; and a few times - more recently - i lost the use of my taste buds for a day after eating too much wasabi. it's an addiction.

    (4)

  • Sean M.

    Best bang for your buck. Good Sushi, Awesome bentos. The chicken is lean and delicious, unlike most inexpensive places that give you 3/4 skin and a little bit of meat. And you can still get out for under $20 for 2 people! We pass 2 other sushi shops just to get to this one. Wanna spend $50 on a bouqet of a meal? Theres places for that. Gombei has the same great service for less than 1/2 the price.

    (5)

  • W. K.

    I've eaten here countless times and the food is consistently good. I enjoy the Curry dishes as comfort food on the cold days. The fried calamari and fish are well executed, although they breaded rather than more traditional tempura style. The service is great, they are always filling your water glass or teacup and checking you how your meal is. One thing I do not like is that they serve the combo meal on one large dinner plate, so my salad greens get teriyaki sauce on the them, and my fried calamari get salad dressing on them. I wish they would use separate plates or a divided Benito box. Regardless of my perceived shortcomings, I still would recommend Gombei over most Japanese restaurants in the area.

    (4)

  • Big K.

    It can get a little crowded, but seems to move fast. I haven't had a bad meal yet...

    (4)

  • Loren L.

    Went with 2 friends. Had the combination dinner with Beef Teriyaki and Calamari. My 2 friends both has the katsu curry, which I got to try. Food was great...especially the Beef Teriyaki. I asked for medium rare, and man oh man did the chef deliver. The beef was cooked to perfection, and the calamari was friend real nice. The curry was also good, though in all honesty I've had so much good curry in my life it all tastes the same to me now. I'd definitely recommend coming here!

    (5)

  • Jim C.

    Japanese comfort food as expected in this relatively new restaurant right next to the big Super Kyo-Po supermarket off Lawrence Expwy and Homestead Rd. Been to the other Gombei's in San Jose and Menlo Park and came wanting teriyaki and that's what I got. The food came quickly, was tasty enough (but not great), and was at a reasonable price. Chicken teriyaki and beef teriyaki hit the spot but were nothing really memorable or to rave about. The wait staff was friendly and did get my water glass filled several times w/o asking so that was nice. Rather huge place with lots of counter seating for sushi boat seating. Otherwise there were few tables (8?) and seemed a less than optimal use of space. Think they could have added some more tables around the place to make it look less sparse. Also artwork/character was lacking. Only gripe was that there was lipstick on my water glass. Ew. Bottom line: Japanese comfort food served quickly but not memorable. (I didn't try the sushi.) Keep an eye on cleanliness of their dishware. Gombei San Jose is the still the best one of the 3 locations.

    (3)

  • tiana w.

    This place is perfect for lunch. Generous set lunches. Cheap and fast. Cash only so bring some Washingtons. Simple and does the job just like my review. :-P

    (3)

  • Leilani N.

    I wanted to enjoy this place more than I did, but things just weren't cutting it. All I had was sushi: small portions, hard/BLAH rice, and on the pricey side. Also, our waiter was so inattentive, and he started walking away even before we were finish ordering. After we finished our meal, he looked at and passed us by at least 3 times before he gave us our bill. Everyone else was fairly nice; I don't know what's wrong with that guy. On the other hand, I did enjoy that the wasabi and sashimi tasted fresh, and their sake cocktail was yummy. I'd try this place out just to say that I tried it, but I wouldn't particularly recommend it.

    (2)

  • Sue L.

    This is our go-to restaurant because its walking distance to our place. It can be a hit or miss on the sushi. Sometimes it's fresh and delicious and other times it just "eh". I always leave here satisfied and always come back for more so no complaints here. Reasonable prices, friendly staff and decent food. Oooh and they give free refills on sodas which is always a plus for me.

    (4)

  • Diana C.

    Yaaaaaaaay! I was super excited when I found out that there was a Gombei in my 'hood. I used to live in Menlo Park, and I'd go to Gombei about twice a month. Gombei was one of the restaurants I missed once I moved down to San Jose. I loved the homey feel of the restaurant, and it made me feel like I was coming home every time I walked in. (Don't ask why; I'm not even Japanese!) This Gombei's interior is nice and open, with a large sushi boat area in the center. My friends and I were seated after a 10 min. wait on a Saturday night. Not too bad. Everything was delicious. I had the oyako (chicken and egg) don, and it was so yummy. It came out piping hot and the seasoning was perfect. At some other places, the chicken is pretty tasteless because they don't season it before cooking it; here, it was marinated before being cooked. Yum. My friends' katsu curries looked and tasted excellent, too. One slight complaint is that there weren't as many veggies in the curry (though my guy friends of course said that wasn't necessarily a bad thing). One of my other friends ordered the beef teriyaki don, and I must admit, I had the slightest bit of food envy looking at it. The meat looked like it had been seared perfectly on the outside, and there was the slightest hint of pink in the center. Ahhh... I want to go back for it already, even though we were just there last night. :-) Anyway, will definitely be adding this restaurant to my regular rounds of eating out. Yay, Gombei!

    (4)

  • Erica S.

    Their chicken teriyaki and ebi fry (fried shrimp) lunch combo is good. Lots of food though. Ladies can probably split this along with a side of sushi or appetizer. Miso soup tastes exactly like the one I cook at home. Darker miso with lots of wakame and tofu. Very home-y tasting.

    (4)

  • Steven H.

    Compared to the original location in Japan Town, this location is way under par. The food was just ok and the service was even worst. Rarely do I get bad service some Japanese restaurants but this one was pretty bad. The waiter looked like he was in a bad mood the whole time I was there. He took our order and that was the last we saw of him. Someone else brought out our food and even took our check. Terrible place. I'll spend money at the Jtown location where the staff is 100x better.

    (2)

  • Michael A.

    The lunch menu is really good. They have one of the nicest japanese curries i've tried, and the lunch combinations are great value. You get a lot of food at very reasonable prices. They don't have the curries on the dinner menu though, but if you ask, they are usually nice enough to do it for you. For dinner, the sashimi is usually very fresh and again well priced. I love coming here for my regular japanese sushi/sashimi fix because i know the fish is always fresh. They have a sushi train which adds a bit more variety to the mix. I would recommend you go outside of peak hours because they don't take bookings for lunch or dinner and you will usually find a big line during the peak hours. the service is really good here as well, a lot better than most asian restaurants. the decor is modern and comfortable. Love this place!! Recommedned dishes: Hamachi (grilled neck piece, dont know what the official description is on the menu), chicken curry, sashimi

    (4)

  • Gloria C.

    This place is only good for lunch. It's something like $11 for their sashimi moriawase. I've only ever tried their sashimi, so that will be the basis for my review. Their sashimi is on average better than most places I've been too. It's fairly fresh and not fishy. I usually like to order an extra side order of sake sashimi. It's not too fatty, properly chilled, and soft with the tiniest bit of chewiness. The only complaint I have is with their toro. We decided to give it a try and to my disappointment it wasn't very good. It was way too cold, too chewy and stringy (tendonish). I mean don't get me wrong, it's not the worst I've had, but definitely not even close to the best either. When you get there, try to get the younger Japanese waiter as he is the best one there. He speaks fluent Japanese, very polite, and ensures you are getting what you need.

    (3)

  • vinh t.

    I usually go to this place for lunch since its close to work. The service is efficient and the food is good. They have a sushi conveyor which is entertaining. Don't bother getting the curry dishes.

    (3)

  • Musashi M.

    Nice food. Nothing bad to say.

    (3)

  • foodster f.

    Gombei is a small, local chain of Japanese restaurants (in Menlo Park, Santa Clara and San Jose). This particular Gombei is a little unique in that they have sushi boats running along the bar, which some people enjoy. This is probably the weakest of the three Gombeis, but it is a solid local pick for casual, homestyle Japanese food. I actually think they're about 3.5 stars, which I round up to 4. Pros: - They have the standard mix of Japanese food like donburis, teriyaki dishes, bento box meals. - The food is consistently good -- I've never had a bad dish here (except for once when the edamame on the boat was old). - Unlike some of the other Gombeis, they have sushi dishes here. - I actually enjoy the sushi boats -- they're fun, you can get started on an appetizer right away, you can add just a little bit of sushi to your meal (many sushi boats have just a few pieces), and you can try a variety of things. - The staff is friendly - The prices are reasonable, especially for pretty good food. Cons: - My gripe about sushi boats is that they still charge a fair amount of money for a small amount. Sometimes, when we order a meal plus pick up some boats (and have leftovers), we're amazed that it can run well over $20 a person -- at that price, we realize we could have gone to a higher-end Japanese restaurant. - Also, some of the sushi boat food can sit for a while, so I don't like going at the end of the day, because I worry it's all dregs. But if you sit at a table and order sushi a la carte, it should be made fresh to order. - In general, their bento type food (ordered off the menu) is better than their sushi dishes. Sushi is just a convenient extra, I wouldn't say it's they're specialty. Recommendations: - I've never ordered a bad dish here, though I was pleasantly surprised at how good their teriyaki chicken and beef are with the combination meals. There are actually grill marks for that fresh off the bbq flavor, and they actually ask if you want your beef cooked medium, rare or well done. Kids: - This is an OK restaurant for kids, and some of the tables have extra room off to the site. They do have high chairs. The bathroom isn't great for changing. Fortunately, there is room to store strollers and such.

    (4)

  • Lord H.

    average place. tuna salad is the gem.

    (3)

  • Steve U.

    Yet another success for Shiro and the Gombei franchise. Opening week was packed as Gombei loyalists found superb sushi and teriyaki smack dab in the middle of suburbia. With sushi boats a carry-over from the previous restaurant, the focus is on the sushi masters as they continually craft tasty delights and set them on covered trays to tease you as they float by. Eating is fun (as it should be). A regular stop on my list.

    (4)

  • Edda S.

    Simple, home style Japanese food. I've only tried the cooked food here, so can't comment on the quality of the sushi/sashimi dishes. The dinner combo is a good value. I'm surprised that this location doesn't have the curry rice dish. The Menlo Park and San Jose locations are better for daily specials and more unusual dishes. This location is more of a run of the mill type of Japanese restaurant that you can find almost anywhere.

    (3)

  • Fred H.

    This place is not bad but nothing out of the ordinary. The price is fair and the food is fair.

    (3)

  • Joe W.

    Dropped by on a weekday when I was too lazy to cook. I've tried the other location in San Jose and I liked this place better. Its bigger and a lot cleaner. The sashimi was very fresh and pretty good quality for the price. The dinner box box was okay but considering the price, it had an excellent value. The rolls were good, very cheaply priced, but came in very small portions (3 pieces... etc). However, it's good that you don't' have to order a large roll and can order more variety. Dinner for 2 was about 35 for two dinner boxes and two rolls and I'm sure I'll stop by again soon.

    (4)

  • Marialena S.

    I just went there for the first time tonight and I really enjoyed it. The fried tofu is YUMMY and their portions are HUGE. The sushi is ok in my opinion, but everything else we tried as delicious.

    (4)

  • Kyong K.

    I had the sashimi lunch here. For $11, you get a big bowl of stuffed tofu or salad, 10 pieces of tuna, hamachi, and salmon sashimi, miso, and rice. Sashimi was of good quality. My friend had the chirashi and he was also very happy with his lunch. Oh yeah...and they have a really cute waitress. She's got an adorable smile.

    (4)

  • Debbie Chiou S.

    the sushi is mediocre at normal prices. my friend ordered udon though, and it definitely wasn't udon. the noodles were thin and without texture. the tempura it came with was extremely oily, but soggy, and without taste. another friend's "katsu" seafood dish was breaded onion ring style rather than with panko and served with mayo rather than the katsu sauce. it's like they're not even trying.

    (2)

  • von c.

    Just had lunch at this place and I was very disappointed. My boyfriend is a sushi chef and we like to try different restaurants. However, we will never be returning to Gombei. The service was awful at best! We waited nearly half an hour before realizing that the waiter never even put our order (chirashi and sashimi lunch) in to the chefs. Then when they did begin making our order, only one of the four chefs did anything while the others stood and stared at him. The only way they compensated us was by discounting our tuna handrolls. The sushi was mediocre at best. I've been to much better restaurants. If you think their sushi is good, then you should really try some of the other local restaurants like Rokko or Tomi Sushi.

    (2)

  • Arthur L.

    Gombei in Japantown has been one of my favorite restaurants but is a bit far since I live in Sunnyvale, therefore, I was happy to see them open one in Santa Clara. They still have the very best udon noodles anywhere. Their teriyaki chicken is delicious and moist. My wife loves the spider roll and salmon shio. The service is friendly and the decor is nice. They also take credit cards since the J-Town location does not. I like going there on a weekly basis.

    (5)

  • Bucky M.

    Overview: Japanese sushi restaurant with "sushi boat" bar. Emphasis on simple rolls rather than "exotic" rolls. This is not one of those "San Jose roll", "HP roll", "IBM roll" places. They mostly have simple rolls, like a salmon roll. The fanciest they get is a rainbow roll. The prices are much cheaper (most expensive roll is $5) because the portions are smaller. But this is a good thing since you get to have a better variety of items (as opposed to places that have $12-15 humongous rolls that you can only eat one). The fish is generally fresh and very good quality. The downsides are service, which I would give 3 stars. Most of their waiters seem pretty inexperienced. The other downside is that the sushi boat bar area takes up over half the restaurant, so there isn't much table seating.

    (4)

  • Andrew T.

    Have you ever heard that saying, if you want to find good Chinese food, go to where all the Chinese are eating? Well, the same applies to Japanese food, and as far as good, hearty Japanese "comfort" food, there is no better place than Gombei. To me, it's like coming home to my Mom's cooking (and sorry Mom, I mean that as a compliment!). The food here is delicious and tastes the way authentic Japanese food should taste, and the menu (nothing too fancy or exotic) represents what real Japanese people eat everyday. The price is very reasonable IMO, and the portions are on the generous side (compared to other restaurants). I fell in love with the cooking of Gombei at the San Jose location, but now that they opened this Santa Clara location... well.... let's just say I am their equivalent to "Norm" at Cheers (as they all know me by first name, and I sit at the end of the sushi bar with a US Postal worker.... no j/k). Let me get into some details. I think the best thing on their menu is the various broiled fish dinners (saba, hamachi, salmon). They have a flame broiler that imparts this savoury taste to all their fish whether you go with the teriyaki or the shio-yaki seasoning, and I was pleasantly surprised to find 2 pieces of fish (and sometimes 3!) on my plate, along with a side dish (like cold tofu), a salad, rice, miso soup, and tea, all included in the price of dinner. This is like the staple of a Japanese diet and a total bargain at about 10 bucks. This alone would make it my favourite Japanese restaurant, but then add on the teriyakis (beef and chicken), cutlets (pork and chicken), the various Japanese-style curries (vegetable, beef, and cutlet curry), the gigantic bowls of udon (various styles), their fantastic selection of generous "dons" (beef, chicken, vegetables, eel over rice with sauce), and their excellent sides menu (chicken kara-age, age-dashi tofu, calamari, sashimi, etc, etc) and Gombei becomes this superb banquet where you never have to eat the same thing twice in a row, unless you want to! I've personally worked my way through the entire menu and everything is good. The teriyaki glaze is a bit sweet for my taste, but otherwise very passable. Best value on the menu?? the unagi donburi (eel over rice) where you get an astounding FIVE pieces of eel, which is about half an eel, plus the usual sides for $12. If eel is not your thing, then try the chicken katsu curry (which is a breaded chicken cutlet over rice covered with delicious curry sauce) which is an unbelievable $8 at lunch. I mean, just to gather the materials to make this dish and the time and effort it would take me to make it.... $8 is an incredible value for what you get! Now, I haven't even talked about the sushi bar yet. This sushi bar, the accepting of credit cards, and the absence of the "specials" board is what differentiates this Gombei location from all the others. I miss the specials board, but the sushi bar by far makes up for it! The sushi bar here easily makes my top 10 list of sushi places, and because they stick to core favourites and keep the prices reasonable ($5 is the maximum), this is my favourite sushi bar in the Santa Clara Valley currently. Every sushi chef here (all 5) are authentic and Japanese, and very talented, creating culinary works of art as beautiful to look at as they are delicious to savour. My personal favourite is the so-called "dragon roll" which is this exotic combination of eel, avocado, rice, seaweed and a tempura prawn all coated with a proprietary glaze and sprinkled with sesame seeds. The "toro" (fatty tuna) is also outstanding here and really a bargain at $5 (for two pieces). They do use artifical crab here, but the California roll at $2 is still very tasty and a good value. I don't drink, but they seem to have a good selection of Japanese beers and sakes, which people around me seem to enjoy. Worth an honourable mention is the Japanese green tea, which is obviously of high quality. I always sit and enjoy several "complimentary" cups of that. Service, to me, is always outstanding, but like I said, I'm a "regular" now. I notice it does get quite crowded at peak times, but they do a fairly good job of seating people quickly and getting them served. Like the Gombei model in downtown SJ, they seem to work on volume, quickly in and out, turning over tables rapidly. I know for a fact that they do not take reservations at all (first come, first served) despite what other reviewers have written. They have very strict and limited lunch and dinner hours, closing in the afternoons. They do have a few desserts offered on the sushi bar conveyor (like green tea cheesecake and fruit bowls, like strawberries).

    (5)

  • mark h.

    ok guys,sorry to do this to ya,i was really happy with your restaurant until my last visit, my waiter with the horrible bleached hair SUCKED,he must of been drunk off Saki and on acid,he messed up my order at least 3 times, we sat their for 15 minutes before even bringing water ,and that's after i asked.,he tried to stick us with some extras on our bill.i left not happy and told myself i would never return,drop t 60 bucks and didn't get to eat what i wanted.how dose that work........

    (3)

  • Taz D.

    Consistent food. You can count on getting a decent meal here. Not a lot of variety but what they do they do well. Love the deep fried shrimp and calamari. The agedashi tofu is great also!

    (4)

  • Tia G.

    udon was affordable ($8 - $10 / bowl) but inauthentic. the noodles were flat and overcooked. if you're looking for the genuine round udon, go elsewhere.

    (3)

  • Fred I.

    Great food and service. Hard to beat for the price!

    (5)

  • vivian l.

    I went to Gombei for lunch today. nice decor, clean and neat inside. temperature in room temperature is not too hot which is ideal for sashimi. I value the cleanness of the restroom and this one is quite clean. Food quality did not meet my standard. It is more like fill up the stomach type of food and not satisfy me as in the taste. Inside is roommie if you have kids.

    (2)

  • Dan-E E.

    From the outside, the place looked like it would be a good one but I was disappointed. They don't serve any sushi rolls, CASH ONLY, and their portions were fit for a kid's meal. I don't recommend this place unless you're dragged there by someone else who's paying for you.

    (2)

  • M. W.

    The one in Japan town in San Jose is my favorite, but this location is closed to my house. I ate there couple times, and it's been good. However, tonight the chef changed my opinion. I had noticed that the sushi chef is having attitude tonight. He didn't smile or take care the customers the whole time. I saw a customer requested a dragon roll from him, he simply told to other chef to take care of it, he didn't even looked at the customer, I thought he was really mean. He didn't seem to care making his sushi. He SLAPPED a piece of shrimp on top of a dish. Seriously, I didn't see the usual artistic of a sushi chef from him. Moreover, I had to suffer the tuna sashimi that felt like chewing NY steak. Bad reviews are all thanks to him.

    (2)

  • Daniel C.

    Great food and great service! Can't ask for more. Definitely will be going back for more sushi.

    (5)

  • E T.

    We come here at least once a month with my 2 young children. For the price, you can't beat the quality and quantity. The sushi bar keeps my kids occupied. They get excited to see strawberries go by or a pair of shrimp eyes staring at them. We recently discovered the fried calamari salad. Delicious. For the price the sushi is very reasonable. Get there before 6:30 or else you would most likely wait for a table at dinner on the weekends.

    (4)

  • Kabochan Y.

    The ambiance at this location is a lot nicer than the original San Jose J-town location. The interior is modern and airy with lime colored walls, an open sushi bar and pretty lighting. Like the original location, this is a great place to eat Japanese comfort food at an affordable price. The portions are gigantic, great if you're a budget conscious diner but bad if - like myself - you're on a perennial diet. My favorite dish here is the panko deep-fried seafood plate, I didn't care much for the salmon (they should use white fish instead and also add scallops) but the shrimp and calamari were delicious and the white dipping sauces were yummy. I am not a fan of sushi so I can't really comment on the quality of it here but my parents, who are from Japan, think this place is pretty good - or authentic. Not exactly haute cuisine but a great place to pig out on Japanese food if you're so inclined.

    (3)

  • Edna C.

    When my family and I eat Japanese food, it's either (good) sushi, ramen, or special combos. Never would we order a chicken teriyaki rice plate or udon, except at the airport where the alternatives are beer or sandwiches. Our go-to used to be Azuma for their unique lunch specials but after they changed owners, the options got more boring and the food got salty and sweet. Then we tried Yoshida, but after the novelty of the presentation in little bowls wears off quickly. Now our staple is Gombei for their special combos. They usually have around 3 special combo choices of ~$9-$14. I tend to splurge, which is a terrible and high-maintenance habit, but I often find myself liking the less costly ones the same if not more, because they're generally more vegetarian and lighter. I like the poke and katsu combo; there is a good portion of the poke and doesn't use excessive sauces to mask fish quality (see below for my eulogy on Gombei's katsu). There's also a hamachi kama and egg tofu pancake that was really good. The hamachi kama was similar to saba except less salty, and the egg tofu pancake was amazing! The texture was so fluffy it tasted like a piece of cloud from heaven... add the assorted veggies and it's a wonderful home-style side (one of those delicious dishes that make me feel like I survive vegetarianism). The downside? I forget what it's called D: Now I can't sound very knowledgeable about Japanese food. Specials aside, their menu is large so you have more choices than deciding between chicken, beef, and salmon teriyaki. Their sushi is decent quality, and their katsu curry is one of my favorite comfort foods in the area. It tastes similar to the Japanese box curry (not a cooked-for-many-hours secret family recipe like Murraci's), but the katsu couldn't be more on point--crunchy, juicy, and cuts with good pork flavor and mild fattiness. It's a tad bit saltier than I like, but I guess that just makes it tastier. Nice clean ambiance, fast service, and usually no wait for a table because it's a big place. After dealing with Orenchi, no wait for good food feels next to a miracle.

    (5)

  • Shannen R.

    What. The. Eff. Man. I came here with a few coworkers to splurge on our sushi craving. To have this place conveniently and strategically placed across the street from Kaiser would have been a done deal.... until I got bad abdominal pain. I had a couple of sushi plates that were running across their sushi boat and a bowl of udon. The sushi was great and I didn't think for a second that it wasn't fresh. The udon was super salty and I didn't even finish my whole bowl. After heading back to work, I felt a sudden grumble and drop in my stomach, as if my stomach screamed, "Damn you! Too much MSG!!!" Could it have been the sushi? Or maybe the Udon? I don't know but my stomach wasn't too happy about it. Whomp, whomp, whomp.....

    (2)

  • Risa W.

    Haven't had some good sushi for a while. Today's my hubby day off, so we head to Gombei. I like their daily menu as it seems everyday's combination are not the same. That's how customers won't get bored with your menu, smart!! I decided to go with the sushi platter. The sashimi were so fresh!! Specially my favorite hamachi. Even the CA rolls were so good, not like mashy in other places. Hopefully we can come everyday!!

    (5)

  • Michael C.

    Stopped by for lunch and ordered the beef teriyaki don which is basically medium rare strips of beef on rice with a side of miso soup and salad. All tasty delicious. Parking was easy in a large lot and there was no wait. Staff was prompt and friendly.

    (4)

  • Bryson L.

    Almost a 4 for having some solid dishes, but not quite because it was lacking in other areas. While I had the teriyaki salmon and tonkatsu combo, it wasn't really my optimal choice, but I was forced into it because of their combination bentos are preset instead of choosing 2 of a variety of options. While they offer you some combinations, there really wasn't too much to choose from unless one of your options was teriyaki chicken or teriyaki beef which were featured in most of the combos. While this did reduce the price for the combos in the sense that you pay for what you get, honestly I'd rather be able to get what I wanted. For $14, I was able to get my teriyaki salmon and tonkatsu combo which came with 2 large pieces of salmon and a pretty good helping of tonkatsu, The food was good but nothing memorable. My rice was a bit dried out as some bites were hard. I was also a bit annoyed that the tonkatsu came on the same plate as the salad. This resulted in some dressing on my tonkatsu and causing it to get soggy more quickly. They do have a rotating sushi boat bar here, and while it did seem enticing, the fish quality did not look like it was justified by the price per plate. I also wasn't very convinced that many of the items were that fresh as it doesn't seem like people come here solely for the sushi boats so items don't seem to rotate out that quickly. Service here is average, the employees here were friendly, but didn't necessarily check on our table that often. Overall, the bento boxes seem pretty solid, but the selection of their menu isn't so great. It's hard to get exactly what you want here unfortunately as the menu is pretty restricting.

    (3)

  • Nina Z.

    There was a massive line for Orenchi Ramen, so my boyfriend and I decided to go across the street and eat at Gombei on a Friday afternoon. When we arrived, the hostess let us know that they were out of teriyaki before seating us. My boyfriend ordered the unagi and egg lunch combo special, which included unagi, egg, miso soup, a salad, and vegetable tempura. I noticed there was vegetable udon and shrimp tempura udon on the menu, so I asked if I could order vegetable tempura udon. Waitress said no problem. Our orders came out and they ended up giving me vegetable udon instead. I was a bit crestfallen and didn't want to say anything at first, but the manager and server were very receptive and were quick to fix my order. Although I didn't ask for it, I liked how they separated the vegetable tempura from the soup, which prevents the tempura from getting all soggy. As for the soup, I liked how clean it tasted (not too oily) and all the noodles and fish cakes were cooked thoroughly. My boyfriend's unagi and egg lunch combo was also very delicious. Although it wasn't my first choice, I enjoyed my meal at Gombei and look forward to visiting again.

    (4)

  • Kai Y.

    Came here because Misoya was packed, and we weren't disappointed. Ordered the beef udon and it came out pretty fast which is good. They gave me a huge bowl, big enough for two people to share. So if you plan on ordering this, make sure you're super hungry, or brought an extra stomach. We also ordered the pork Katsu over rice, nothing special but still good. My favorite part is the conveyor belt of sushi and other small plates of goodies.. It's so tempting to just grab whatever looks good, so if you're on a tight budget, don't sit there. Plates of sushi ranges from $2.50 to around $5 from what I remember. I had better sushi before, but theirs is decent. This place doesn't look packed most of the time, so if you're super hungry and do not have the energy or patience to wait for the long line across the street for orenchi Ramen, this is the perfect place to go.

    (4)

  • Kenneth L.

    One star to hopefully get the owners attention only. I love the food here and have been here several times. But today the waitress missed my order. When asked about what happened, she got defensive and stated that I told her I didn't want it and when I said I didn't say that, she got more defensive. It really made me sad that a place I enjoy I had a server who was that mean. As a result, I got my food when everyone else had finished, but not one word of "I apologize" or " my bad" .... No offers as an apology or anything .... Other than the waitresses everything this trip was On par as other visits.

    (1)

  • Alice S.

    Went in for lunch last Friday around 11:45 and got seated immediately. I ordered 3 sushi plates that came from the rotating belt: dragon roll and rainbow roll, each was about $4-5 with 4 large sized pieces. My coworkers got the hot lunch combos. Service was quick, generous portions, decent prices, lots of selections on the lunch special menu. I will go back again for lunch for sure.

    (5)

  • Jennifer M.

    This place is just OK. I found most of the fish rubbery and entrees lacking in flavor. The only items worth nothing are the Agedashi and the Unagi Don. Both were your standard items with good flavor and portion size. The place gets really busy for lunch so I recommend trying out Gombei for dinner. I have eaten here for lunch and dinner and noticed a drastic difference in service. The dinner shift is nicer and more attentive.

    (2)

  • Brent T.

    Gombei was our choice tonight because a friend from out of town who can't get good Japanese food where he is was craving Japanese, and our go-to spot is closed on Mondays. This was my first time eating at any Gombei location, and it might well be my last. So let's get the good out of the way. The people here are super friendly and welcoming, and they are pretty good about checking in on you. And the veggie tempura I got was admittedly quite good, I'll give them that. Unfortunately, that's about all the good I have to speak of. The rest of the food was at best passable...edible, certainly, but not particularly enjoyable. Veggie tempura is only available as an appetizer or 1-item dinner, but not in a combo dinner...strange if you ask me. My teriyaki sauce was thin and watery, and meat not particularly browned. My fiancee's udon was...not udon, not if you are judging by the noodles which were not like any udon noodles I've ever had in my life...flat noodles which were soggy. I can't in good conscience recommend Gombei. While the employees here were very polite and courteous, the food is forgettable.

    (2)

  • Navin K.

    I was in Silicon Valley for a meeting at the nearby Panasonic facility and a couple of us went for lunch afterward. We wanted Japanese food, but Iroriya was a bit too fancy for a quick business lunch and Orenchi Ramen had too much of a wait, so Gombei it was. We were seated at a booth quickly and the service was friendly and efficient. We ordered a couple of appetizers and a couple of platters. The gyoza appetizer was fried a little too much, but I found the house tofu (recommended by the server) "melt-in-your-mouth" outstanding! Both platters were good - the sashimi was fresh and the vegetable tempura cooked perfectly. Did not enjoy the salad or the miso soup which came with the platters, however. Get your basics right please!

    (3)

  • Golda R.

    Tried this place on a whim because Misoya, the ramen house next door, was full and my husband didn't want to wait. I was actually excited to eat some sushi, and when our rolls came out, I noticed how small and, as another fellow Yelper pointed out, generic looking they were. The rolls looked like the pre-packaged stuff you can get at any supermarket. They were decent and did the trick for me, but oh boy the waitress who did our bill overcharged us 3 extra rolls that we did not order. Luckily, I can add pretty well and took a look at the bill before my husband paid. Sure enough glaring right in front of me was the waitress' mistake. For those who decide to come here, I would triple check your bill before paying.

    (3)

  • Ultra B.

    To Gombei Owner - YOUR STAFF NEEDS TRAINING!!! I have been going to Gombei for several years now. Not because their food is exceptionally good, but simply because it's convenience and not much wait time. Their service has been declining badly and today was the worst experience that I have had. We sat down at the sushi bar to begin with. Then the waitress asked what we wanted to drink. I told her tea. A minute later, a 2nd waitress asked the same thing. Another minute later, a 3rd waitress asked what we want to drink. Same thing, the waitresses came MULTIPLE times asking if we want to order from the menu. Hello? Can we get some coordination? It got really annoying and they kept interrupting my conversation. The worst was the sushi chef, the 40 something Japanese guy that makes sushi in front of the bar. On the conveyor belt, there were daily specials which was Tuna avocado roll. We took a few of those plates and felt they were ok. Then I suddenly realized that the chef kept staring at us. He then started bad mouthing us with the waitresses about how we only eat daily specials and not other plates. It was so freaking RUDE to discriminate customers that way! He was speaking in Japanese, but I can totally tell since he kept laughing with the waitress while staring at us. at our 4th plates, the waitress actually came up asking if we want the check!? WTF? We only sat there for 20 minutes and you are asking us to leave? Ok fine, we told her yes and left. The chef at the end actually apologized for offending us. Still, as a professional chef, a staff of a restaurant, you should use your brain to think before you act. Next time I'll go take one plate of special and then ask for the check.

    (1)

  • Melissa S.

    Very pleasantly surprised by this little gem in a Korean shopping center. Ordered the shrimp tempura udon, it was great! Lots of fresh veggie tempura too! Soup was nice and hot. My husband ordered the chicken teriyaki don, which was also great. Also ordered a dragon roll and avocado roll, they were small which was a great addition to our entree meals. Will definitely be going back.

    (3)

  • Meg T.

    Literally the worst sushi experience I have ever had. We sat down, after first going next door and finding that due to my soy allergy there was nothing whatsoever I could eat, enter Gombei... sadly. We ordered, and within a minute I was handed my spider roll. My first thought was if I had wanted something from the boats, I would have picked it up... however I was in good spirits and tried first a piece of the crab (soggy looking and sharp edged) and then a whole roll. The roll was awful. I sat for a moment trying to decide if it was polite to spit it out. I decided to try and swallow, but due to the awful taste, thought better of it and finally spit it into a napkin. Either the crab was bad, or the avocado had sat too long somewhere and seriously turned. I will say this, when I was asked how everything was, and I let them know, they did take it off the bill. He seemed so surprised and apologetic, but there was no way I was going to order another one. The fact they served the first to me at all says a lot about them. I ended up having three nice (and made fresh) avocado rolls after giving one to my boyfriend because I was not aware at the time the waiter hadn't taken down my tempura order -which he'd even specified with me when I ordered-, and that it and my juice were all I would eat. After waiting almost 45 minutes for my tempura and slowly having my stomach turn from the piece of crab I did eat we were checked in on and I found out they hadn't put in my order, I was done. There was no saving the experience. I will never, ever go back to Gombei. Out of all the Sushi restaurants I have ever been to I have never been served such bad food, followed up by such a serving mistake. Ugh.

    (1)

  • Steven S.

    Decided to come to this restaurant after not willing to wait across the street to get Ramen at Orenchi. Ordered California rolls with came out very quick but when it came to the tempura roll it took 15 minutes to get that. Blame it on the slow cooks in the back, but quick sushi chefs in the front. The quality of the sushi is no doubt average and comparable to store bought sushi found in the oriental sections of some grocery stores. Only difference is the freshness. The sushi rice was very mushy with little filling. Rice to filling ratio was 3-1 Definitely not on my list if sushi places to go back to.

    (2)

  • Megan E.

    DO NOT EAT HERE! COCKROACHES! My boyfriend and I live right by Gombei and have come here with friends on a couple of occasions for a pitcher of beer and some udon or donburi (their better dishes). The fish has always been so-so. Definitely not up to my quality standards for sushi, but their other food is alright and it's always been very convenient for us to stop by. However, the last time we came here and I mean LAST TIME, a cockroach crawled ACROSS OUR TABLE. When we showed one of the servers, she was profusely apologetic. She went to grab her manager who made up some excuse about how they're taking care of the problem but know that it's an issue. WHAT? I'm sorry. If you've got roaches that are so bold as to walk across a table in a busy, well-lit room that's more than a problem. You shouldn't be open for business. On top of this, the manager never offered to comp even a single part of our meal or drinks. We told him he'd lost two customers that evening.

    (1)

  • Brian D.

    Like the one downtown.....it's casual and awesome! Good value and Just enough portion size to fill you up without stuffing you! Love the nigiri selection and most dinner combos are just yummy and complete enough for the very reasonable cost that you will come back! I think what makes this place so good is the semi sushi,semi teppon environment and menu combo! You get both and cheap comparatively! I love it! You'll love it.....and be back! I promise!

    (5)

  • Brendan B.

    C'mon, y'all. Been on hold for 20 minutes. A courtesy update at the 10 or 15 minute mark would've been nice :( Will try again (maybe) in the future.

    (2)

  • Ken K.

    We sat and ordered some dinner while sitting at the sushi boat counter. The good - salmon teriyaki and tofu donburi The bad - Need to use better beef for the Beef Teriyaki. Very small portion of beef as well and a few pieces were not edible. Also, the sushi rice tasted awful. C'mon making sushi rice is easy! I suggest spot checking the rice and tasting it to make sure your kitchen helpers are making it right.

    (2)

  • Pug M.

    The choices is a kinda limited and they don't really make new sushi to put on the belt that often. Most of the things on the belt had been there since I came in. Unless you are good at telling what's fresh and what not and if you want to eat fresh ones go order with the chef.

    (3)

  • Denise W.

    Slow service. Our whole dinner took about 2 hours because each order took at least 20-30 min to come out. Not much sushi going around the revolving sushi bar. Pretty much only had the typical generic sushis like california rolls, inari, couple vegetarian tofu dishes, and chicken wings? I ordered the ama ebi which were pretty tiny pieces.. so I got like 6 orders of it. Tamago nigiri, some dish resembling inari but with crab meat inside, salmon nigiri, tuna nigiri...and california rolls..cas there really wasnt much else. I had to personally order these from the sushi chef with the exception of the california rolls & inari. I didnt really understand why the sushis took so long to come out since there was not a lot of people there so it wasn't too busy, I didnt see any new sushi on the revolving belt and yet the sushi chefs looked so busy. But the whole time in my mind i was just thinking WHERES MY SIMPLE LITTLE TWO PIECE SUSHIII. Didnt quite add up. The Oyako Don was a generous portion with alot of rice. The chicken egg & onion over rice was decent and very filling. Had a light taste to it and the chicken was nice and soft. My brother got the Beef Teriyaki don which was also not bad, somewhat tender and flavorful. If you do come to this restaurant youre probably better off getting a dish like a donburi, combination dinner, or maybe the udon noodles rather than sushi. Overall this place is alright but would not recommend.

    (2)

  • Jenny C.

    Saturday night with 6 people and no reservation anywhere, we found ourselves struggling to find any restaurant with less than an hour wait. Lucky for us, Gombei only had a 5-10 minute wait. They were also still really crowded, but efficient, and people were flowing. We ordered basically every single kind of udon and a ton of sushi. The sushi ranged in terms of quality, but all of them were really affordable. They only had the basic sushi (no super fancy rolls), but they were all pretty cheap. The eel roll was weirdly chewy and not very good, but the rainbow roll, caterpillar roll, spicy tuna, and scallops were all pretty decent. The udon noodles weren't your big, fat nice udon noodles (they were thin and flat). In general, the food was just 'eh', but for the price and speedy service, I would come back in a rut.

    (3)

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Map

Opening Hours

  • Mon :11:30 am - 2:00pm

Specialities

  • Takes Reservations : No
    Delivery : No
    Take-out : Yes
    Accepts Credit Cards : Yes
    Good For : Lunch
    Parking : Private Lot
    Bike Parking : No
    Wheelchair Accessible : Yes
    Good for Kids : Yes
    Good for Groups : Yes
    Attire : Casual
    Ambience : Casual
    Noise Level : Average
    Alcohol : Beer & Wine Only
    Outdoor Seating : No
    Wi-Fi : No
    Has TV : No
    Waiter Service : Yes
    Caters : No

Gombei

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